Geopolitician and essayist Frédéric Encel analyzes the repercussions of the new shockwave shaking the Middle East after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the rise to power of an Islamist coalition led by Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, a former figure of ISIS and al-Qaeda.
The revolution is underway in Damascus. Once again, in the Arab world, history takes a dramatic turn, and the Syrian people hold their breath. Bashar al-Assad has fled the country, and Islamists have seized power. What lies ahead? The battalions led by Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, a former jihadist of ISIS and then al-Qaeda – whom he allegedly parted ways with in 2016 – thank Allah from the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, a radiant symbol of Sunni Islam. These images will go down in history, though no one knows how it will unfold.
Independent since 1991, the former British Somalia is still not recognised by the international community. It raises only camels, sheep and goats, but its strategic location on the Gulf of Aden is of interest to Ethiopia, its large neighbour (120 million inhabitants), which has had no access to the sea since Eritrea became independent. Turkey and Qatar have established themselves in Mogadishu (Somalia), while the United Arab Emirates are investing heavily in Berbera, the major port in Somaliland. The Chinese have a military base in Djibouti and Taiwan is interested in Sallahey, south of Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, where an oil field has been discovered.
A confidential report by a European intelligence agency October 2021 mentions a secret alliance between Qatar and Turkey, sealed during a “coordination meeting” dedicated to strengthening collaboration between the two countries on “support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Europe”.
We reproduce here large excerpts from this edifying report:
French investigations following the banning of the Islamist NGO Barakacity and the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) have revealed close links with the MIT (Turkish secret service).
According to a confidential French memo, cadres of the Algerian Islamist movement Rachad were discreetly received by the MIT (Turkish secret services) in Antalya and Istanbul. The Rashad emissaries were promised financial and logistical assistance to strengthen their propaganda activities.
The Ottoman Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to reweave the nationalist fibre, through external provocation, because he is weakened on the inside by a sluggish economy and growing unpopularity. It is a dangerous game because he wants to project himself beyond his borders and is once again seeking to settle scores with his historical Armenian enemies, whose genocide in 1915 was caused by Turkey. Which Erdogan denies. And that is a shame.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan wants to show the great powers that he has his say in the redistribution of the cards in the Middle East and in the resolution of conflicts in the region, at a time, moreover, when the world order that emerged from 1945, the end of the Second World War, has become obsolete.
The decision of President Emmanuel Macron to call into question the courses of language and culture of origin, given in French public schools, essentially targets “the Islamo-nationalist propaganda” of the Ankara officials who provide this type of course to 15,600 young people. Franco-Turkish.
A recent meeting of the Turkish and Qatari secret services in Doha sealed a common strategy for the African continent. The plan has three components: economic investment, security and political-military cooperation.
