Strategic Council Online – An expert and analyst on Caucasus affairs, referring to the role of regional and trans-regional powers in the South Caucasus, said: There are issues and crises in the South Caucasus region, tensions have been frozen and if not properly managed, it is likely that the fire of ethnic and regional and perhaps international conflicts in this region would flare up again.
Strategic Council Online—Editorial: In recent weeks and parallel with an increase in military movements along the Black Sea and Russia-Ukraine border, this region has been once again brought into the global focus.
Seyyed Nader Noorbakhsh-European affairs analyst
Strategic Council Online – Note: Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias in his visit to Saudi Arabia signed two agreements on military cooperation between the two countries. According to the signed document, Greece is supposed to deliver one of the Patriot missiles received from the United States to Saudi Arabia, a move that could be the result of Saudi Arabia’s failure against Yemeni missiles and drones. The US-made Patriot anti-aircraft systems will be used to protect Saudi Arabia’s most important oil facilities, and the Greek systems will be used to protect other important military bases in that country. In recent months, Saudi Arabia has been under the burden of missile and drone strikes by the Yemeni armed forces and has never been able to thwart those attacks with its own defense systems.
Mahmoud Fazeli – analyst of international affairs
Strategic Council Online – The Eastern Mediterranean, border issues as well as the maritime agreement between Turkey and Libya are among the axes that have caused tensions between Greece and Turkey over the past two years. One of the contentious issues between the two neighbors is the internal developments in Libya. The visits of the leaders of both Libyan factions to Turkey and Greece have been met with fringe and controversy, and the crisis in Libya has practically added to the scope of the traditional rivalry between Athens and Ankara. Libya is in a geopolitically sensitive position, and its developments directly affect the security of Africa, the Middle East and Europe. If the Libyan crisis is resolved, the country can increase its oil production in 2 to 3 years and start oil trade with southern Europe.
Mahmoud Fazeli – Analyst of international affairs
Strategic Council Online – Referring to the recent tensions between Turkey and Western members of NATO, an expert on Turkey affairs said that Ankara’s approach to NATO and its interaction with the United States in recent years has become a challenging situation that almost has put Turkey in front of Western countries.
Strategic Council Online – A university professor said that Turkey and Egypt are forced to negotiate on issues of common interests in the Mediterranean and North Africa, adding: It is likely that in the near future we will see the start of negotiations and somehow redefine cooperation between Egypt and Turkey, the two active actors in the Libyan equation.
Strategic Council Online – An expert on the Middle East affairs, commenting on the latest political and military developments in Yemen, said that the current developments in Yemen have serious distinctions compared to the developments of the last 6 years, which are indicative of new events.
Online Strategic Council—Opinion: Madam Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, 38 years old, educated in the United States and candidate of the ruling party for the position of President of Kosovo, was elected as the new President of Kosovo in the third round of voting in the 112-seat parliament with the positive vote of 71 MPs. In this voting, 11 votes were disqualified and two opposition parties and one Serb-minority party boycotted voting in the parliament. Osmani-Sadriu, former speaker of the parliament, is the second women to be elected president in Kosovo after the Balkans conflict. She is holding a ceremonial position now however she plays the leading role in determining Kosovo’s foreign policy while she is the commander in chief of the armed forces. She became the interim chief of cabinet in November 2020 after Hashim Thaci resigned as the president of Kosovo. Thaci submitted his resignation before a court in the Netherlands began investigating war crimes. Hashim Thaci is awaiting the court.
Mahmood Fazeli—International affairs analyst
Online Strategic Council—Interview: A university professor says Iraqi prime minister is trying to resolve some of the economic and financial problems of his country through Saudi Arabia and the Arab countries.
Online Strategic Council—Interview: An analyst of West Asian issues says Americans are seeking to stabilize their presence in Syria and keep parts of their forces in the north and south of Syria, saying that Americans are definitely seeking long-term plans in Syria.
Strategic Council Online – Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention following the instructions and decision of its president which was also published in the Official Gazette. The decree says that the decision had been taken pursuant to Paragraph 3 of the presidential circular No. 9 on the cancellation of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, signed by the Republic of Turkey in 2011 and approved by cabinet ministers one year later.
Mahmoud Fazeli – Analyst of international affairs
Strategic Council Online – Turkey has made significant progress in the military industry, and is known in the world not only in the production of light and heavy weapons, vehicles, ships and military aircraft, but has also outstanding activity in the design and development of missiles, electronic systems and control.
Mahmoud Fazeli – Analyst of international affairs
Strategic Council Online – Head of Iran-Armenia Friendship Association, stating that Russia and the United States have not shown opposition to the continuation of Pashinyan’s stay in power, said: In the early elections, Pashinyan will regain the majority and will continue his rule, of course, if there is no coup by the military.
Strategic Council Online – Without considering the ground realities in Yemen and without taking into account common concerns of Riyadh and Western capitals, it is not possible to understand the reasons for the change in propaganda and declared positions of Washington officials and their so-called peaceful movements in Yemen.
Jafar Qanadbashi – expert on the Middle East affairs
Strategic Council Online—Editorial: Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced in a news conference that Ankara has sent a positive message to the Egyptian government in Cairo. After eight years of turbulent relations between the two countries, Cavusoglu said Turkey has made contacts at the intelligence and diplomatic levels with Egypt and Ankara is ready to sign an agreement with Cairo to assign marine borders through negotiation under the present circumstances. And Turkey considers as positive the activities of Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea excavations. Egypt has implicitly recognized Turkey’s marine borders and sent a positive message to Ankara in this way.
Mahmoud Fazeli—Analyst of international relations
Strategic Council Online – The Islamic Resistance in the region in 1399 (March 2020 – March 2021), , recorded significant growth and efficiency in terms of field capabilities despite global developments and increasing US intervention.
Hassan Hanizadeh – Middle East affairs expert
Strategic Council Online – An expert on international law saying that the target of the Zionist regime in the Caucasus and Azerbaijan is to be able to be stationed in the region for a longer time and establish a base for the Zionists in the Caucasus, noted: The mechanism to counteract the mischiefs of the Zionist regime in the region and basically prevent the profiteering of each of the players in it, is to pay attention to the plan for lasting peace.
Strategic Council Online – An expert on geopolitical affairs commenting on NATO cooperation with Arab states, especially those in the Persian Gulf, said: Countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia since their independence had been under British tutelage and were totally dependent on that country and after Britain withdrew from east of the Suez Canal, the United States replaced it. In fact, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf think that by setting up their bases Western countries would provide them with security, but this is not the case, as we see today that Saudi Arabia is the target of the Yemeni missiles.
Strategic Council Online—Interview: A university professor, referring to the national reconciliation and peace accord in Libya, said conditions of the peace accord in Libya is fragile because the weight and share of Libyan groups have not been properly examined and these issues will be influential in the period after elections.
Strategic Council Online – The former Director-General of the Middle East Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that the interests of governments and regional powers in the Middle East are in conflict and trans-regional players too are not interested in its stability and security, said: In case relations with Saudi Arabia are organized through diplomacy and differences are resolved through negotiation it would help improve the two countries’ position in the world.
