The signing of a memorandum of understanding between Turkey and Libya on the demarcation of maritime jurisdiction zones in eastern Mediterranean was a game-changer of the long-standing standoff between Turkey and other littoral countries, particularly Greece and Greek Cyprus.
The conference in Berlin has failed to guarantee a permanent ceasefire because of General Khalifa Haftar’s reluctance in laying down arms at a moment when he was feeling strong against Prime Minister Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj’s Government National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli. As a matter of fact, Haftar’s blocking of the oil shipment from Libyan ports just days before the conference made his intentions clear.
Yesterday marked the 13th anniversary of the killing of Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist and founder of the weekly Agos, by an ultra-nationalist gunman in downtown Istanbul. The assassination of Dink, who had devoted his life to building peace bridges between Turks and Armenians, continues to hit the hearts and conscience of many in Turkey and beyond as one of the most heartbreaking blows on peace and stability.
The latest in-person meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Jan. 8 in Istanbul brought about calls for ceasefire both in Libya and Idlib province of Syria.
A lot has happened in the Middle East and North Africa since the beginning of 2020. The killing of an Iranian senior commander, Qasem Soleimani, by the United States and Tehran’s calculated retaliation have been observed as the first worrisome incident of the New Year.
An intense diplomatic traffic has yielded a cease-fire between Libya’s two major powers, the Tripoli-based Government National Accord (GNA) and Tobruk-based General Khalifa Haftar. At the center of this diplomacy was Turkey and Russia, whose presidents, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Vladimir Putin, issued a call for a cease-fire during a bilateral meeting on Jan. 8 in Istanbul.
One of the most important results of the latest meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was their joint call for a cease-fire in Libya.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold their first in-person meeting of 2020 on Jan. 8 in Istanbul on the occasion of the inauguration of the TurkStream natural gas pipeline.
One thing almost all experts, diplomats and pundits agree on is the fact that the United States’ drone attack against top Iranian military figures will change the game in the Middle East for the worse.
