"Turkey called on Russia and Iran to pressure the Syrian government to halt a military offensive against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) in the province of Idlib.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Russia and Iran must fulfill their “responsibilities” under a joint agreement reached with Turkey in 2017. He added that the ongoing advance would not be possible without support of Russia and Iran.
Under the agreement, the three countries announced a “de-escalation zone” in Idlib. Thus, Turkey, Iran, Russia became guarantors of the agremeent in the area.
“Iran and Russia need to carry out their responsibilities. If you are guarantors, which you are, stop the regime,” Cavusoglu told the state-run Anadolu news agency.
Unfortunately, Cavusoglu forgot to added that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is a terrorist group and excluded from the ceasefire agrement. But, who cares, when Ankara sees the operation of the Syrian Army in the area as a threat to its expansionist interests in Syria." SF
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Do Putin and Lavrov really look simple minded enough to allow themselves to be manipulated with scraps of paper and bold-faced ambition driven BS emanating from Ankara? Do they?
Turkey's evident ambition to recover as much of Ottoman lands in Syria as possible is pathetically obvious. pl
https://southfront.org/turkey-calls-russia-iran-stop-syrian-army-offensive-terrorists-idlib/
Pan-Arabism was an Egyption Idea promoted and carried on by Nasser and put in coffin by Saadat.
Kooshy, here is a link to Christine Helms, Arabism and Islam, Stateless Nations and Nationless States, The Institute for National Strategic Studies National Defense University, July 1990
It's an abbreviated version, 50 pages only. She's a good writer, good read. Freely accessible online:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112104503443;view=1up;seq=1
******
I am aware of pan-Arabism. My random reference had to do with a "twitterer" I recently stumbled across who used neo-pan-Arabist to describe his background.
Posted by: LeaNder | 13 January 2018 at 07:40 AM
LeAnder
Pan-Arabism is a dead dog. Israel killed it by destroying the illusion that held that the Arabs (native Arabic speakers)could be united into a mighty country. George Antonius is generally thought to have bee the most important literary figure in the movement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Antonius
pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 13 January 2018 at 08:29 AM
Babak, would it be possible in your view that Erdoğan is trying to surpass Atatürk for domestic consumption; I would speculate that he attempts to counter the myth that Atatürk was the model leader of Turkey by pointing out the National Accord and Atatürk`s inability to reconquer the areas "belonging" to Turkey. So slivers of land might not do much for Turkey, but might they do something for Erdoğan in his quest to surpass Atatürk? I think this is maybe a futile quest, but on the hunt for motives this crossed my mind as a possible one.
Posted by: Wunduk | 16 January 2018 at 04:36 AM