Strategic Council Online – For the Westerners, any defeat and retreat of General Haftar’s forces mean the defeat of Egypt and the Arab reactionary states, which have sought to secure Western interests in Libya on a proxy basis, and now with the big defeat of Khalifa Haftar’s forces, have left the battlefield to the rival forces supported by Turkey.
Jafar Qanadbashi – African Affairs Expert
Strategic Council Online – Talking about the field progress of the National Unity Government and the defeats of Khalifa Haftar in Libya, a university professor said it is unlikely that peace will be achieved in Libya in the current situation. He stressed that other agreements should be reached in addition to the Skhirat peace agreement another deal must be forged taking into account the demands of the political groups because if the government of national unity fails to meet the people’s demands we may see extremist groups emerge in the country.
Strategic Council Online: A university professor said there was no consensus on maintaining a long-term ceasefire in Idlib, noting that sooner or later this fragile ceasefire would collapse because Turkey has realized Bashar Assad will stay in power and therefore Ankara will need a bargaining chip to protect its interests.
Strategic Council Online: A former ambassador and Middle East expert says the recent developments in Arab states against Turkey are expected to create a new balance of power. “If Erdogan fails to pay attention to the issue, the axis is likely to boost its status against Turkey in the future.
Strategic Council Online: A West Asian affairs expert said US opposition to a UN Security Council statement in support of the recent ceasefire agreement between Turkey and Russia was over fears that Russia will hold the upper hand in the talks. He added that the agreement reached in the talks on Idlib was in the interest of the government of Bashar Assad.
Strategic Council Online: An expert on Middle East affairs said Turkey was in a state of unprecedented strategic confusion, especially in Idlib, adding that if Ankara fails to use these tools and is unable to come out of the strategic confusion in Idlib and gain field achievements there would remain no other way for Erdogan than negotiation.
Strategic Council Online: A university professor outlining the failure to achieve peace and ceasefire in Libya said: Since Khalifa Haftar is fully aware that Turkey would not abandon its support for economic investments and Brotherhood-led government in North Africa it has made accepting the ceasefire conditional on Turkish troop withdrawal from Libya to send the ball into the court of the National Unity Government and impose international pressure on it
Strategic Council Online: Given that Kashmir is considered one of the main red lines of the Pakistani government and people, Saudi Arabia has essentially adopted a thoughtful silence in this regard, which has become a challenge in relations between the two countries.
Mohammad Reza Asgari Moroudi – Subcontinent Affairs Expert
Strategic Council Online: A faculty member of the Shahid Beheshti University outlining the most important issues at the Munich Security Conference described the current state of world security as extremely shaky and noted that the Conference could not accomplish any important results.
Strategic Council Online: A West Asia affairs expert said the reading of Russia, Iran and Syria of the Sochi deal appear to be different from what Turkey thinks of the deal. Mr Erdogan is making his own personal interpretation of the Sochi deal, which is tantamount to turning the negotiating table upside down and disturb the rules of the game.
Strategic Council Online: A Middle East analyst brought up the importance of Syrian army’s success in liberating Ma’arat al-Numan, Khan Tuman and areas of Idlib, saying the most difficult operation is Operation Idlib because it seems that there is a serious disagreement on military operations of Syria and Russia with Turkey in this region and the two sides have different strategies.
Strategic Council Online: Erdogan is trying to get closer to achieving some of his European goals by using the refugee card, which today is the Achilles’ Heel of EU countries, including Germany.
Abed Akbari – European Affairs Expert
Strategic Council Online: Despite the geographical, strategic and economic importance of Libya for Turkey, the Mediterranean movements of Ankara occur within the framework of a new policy Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks to apply.
Siamak Kakai – Turkey Affairs expert
Strategic Council Online: The most important reason for Washington’s lifting of Cyprus arms embargo is the serious threat against Israeli and Egyptian interests in the region prompted by an agreement reached between Turkey and Libya over security-military and border issues in recent weeks and demarcating marine boundaries. The US Senate has voted to lift the arms embargo on Cyprus in a move that will displease Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ghadir Golkarian – Professor at Near East University in Cyprus
Strategic Council Online: An international relations professor said that Turkey had entered into the Syrian crisis by unrealistic and inaccurate calculations, adding: “Turkey not only failed to achieve its initial goals but the crisis made Ankara face new challenges.”
Strategic Council Online: An expert on European affairs, referring to a quartet summit of Europe and Turkey on Syria on the sidelines of the NATO summit in London, said: Turkey has been seeking a series of political concessions over developments in northern Syria in recent years.
Strategic Council Online: A meeting between US delegation led by Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish officials in Ankara ended with the announcement of a 120-hour ceasefire in northern Syria. Following the talks, a joint 13-article statement was issued between Turkey and the United States, which, in addition to sparking harsh criticism by Trump’s opponents to its clauses, the Syrian presidential adviser described it “vague.”
Hamideh Safamanesh – International Relations Researcher
Strategic Council Online: An expert on regional issues pointed out that opposition parties in the Turkish government, who account for more than 50% of the people’s vote, are definitely opposed to the government decision to invade northeast Syria. He said: On the social and grassroots level too, the invasion has many opponents.
Strategic Council Online: A Turkish affairs expert says Trump has given the green light to Turkey in invading Syria but President Erdogan must be aware that this is a trap by the US to undermine the Turkish economy, military and government in the interests of the Zionist regime.
Strategic Council Online: An expert on Turkish affairs said that criticisms by American statesmen of Turkey’s invasion of Syria are just verbal reactions, adding that in action there was in fact a relative harmony between US interests and Turkish concerns in that regard. By giving the green light to Turkey the United States has proven that it is still pursuing a policy of supporting terrorists, he said.
