Erdoğan’s ‘Islamic alliance’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s call for an alliance of Islamic alliance states to confront the threat of Israeli expansionism in the region and stop the slaughter in Gaza failed to draw any positive response from Arab and Islamic countries, including those he mentioned by name, such as Egypt and Syria. In Syria’s case, its foreign minister Farouq al-Miqdad withdrew from Tuesday’s Arab League Council meeting in Cairo when his Turkish counterpart got up to speak.

Erdoğan made his appeal after Egyptian President Abdelfattah as-Sisi made a rare visit to Ankara, Turkey’s security forces arrested a network of Mossad operatives planning to assassinate Hamas and other Palestinian figures in the country, and Turkish-American solidarity activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was murdered in cold blood by Israeli troops in the West Bank.

Erdoğan described what has been happening in Gaza as not a war between Israel and the Palestinians but a struggle between Zionist expansionism and Muslims defending their homeland.

“Israel will not stop in Gaza,” he warned. “If Israel continues in this manner, it will set its sights elsewhere after occupying Ramallah. The turn will come for other countries in the region. It will come from Lebanon, Syria. They will set their eyes on our homeland between the Tigris and Euphrates.”

“That is why we say, ‘Hamas resists on behalf of Muslims.’ That is why we say, ‘Hamas is not only defending Gaza, it is defending Islamic lands, Turkey’,” Erdogan said.

These statements are true and pertinent. They provide an accurate depiction of the reality of the situation and reflect good intentions on the Turkish president’s part. Yet they failed to garner any interest or appreciation.

There are several reasons for this:

First, under the rule of Erdoğan’s AK Party, Turkey has been occupying northern Syria and part of northern Iraq, rejecting any withdrawal and intent on keeping its forces there. How could the Syrian state be one of the mainstays of this proposed partnership while this occupation persists?

Secondly, the call for the establishment of this Islamic alliance against Israel did not allude to involving Iran, Iraq, Algeria Yemen, or even Malaysia or Indonesia in it. It was confined to three countries of a single ideological orientation. That would thwart and raise suspicions about the scheme.

Third, the real challenge is how to translate this alliance and its precepts into tangible reality on the ground, rather than a token talking shop like so many other Arab and Islamic groupings and alliances past and present (Arab League, Islamic Conference Organisation, etc.)

Fourth, Zionist expansionism and the war of annihilation in Gaza rely on military might be bolstered by US and Western financial support and armament. Any Islamic counter-alliance would require modern and advanced military capabilities and clear and agreed commitments and agendas. Rhetoric, statements of intent, and strongly worded condemnations of the occupation and its massacres are insufficient and convince no one.

Fifth, as the country making this appeal and taking the initiative, Turkey ought to set an example by severing its economic and political ties with Israel, withdrawing its troops from Syria and Iraq, complying with its security agreements with the two countries, and providing the resistance to the occupation with arms and political and material support.

There is certainly an urgent need for an Islamic alliance to confront Israel’s ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a step to creating a Greater Israel at the expense of the Arab and Islamic worlds.

It is a disgrace for Arab and Islamic states to look the other way while Israeli forces commit ethnic cleansing and genocidal war in the Gaza Strip and West Bank and prepare to devastate Lebanon and expand the war to include Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, and maybe also Turkey, Iran, and Egypt soon, whether directly or indirectly.

Such an alliance should be formed and put into practical effect as soon as possible. But it has to be serious, instant, and a departure from previous practice. It must be a prelude to turning a new leaf in relations between the member states first, and threatening military retaliation for Israel’s arrogance and atrocities. Only then might Israel and its US backers realise that the people of Palestine and Lebanon are not alone on the battlefronts.

https://www.raialyoum.com/erdogans-islamic-alliance/