Turkey Juggles Over The Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Plus: Syrian rebels seek revenge against Russia in Ukraine, the Arab World is divided on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia seeks support in the Middle East, and much more.
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Before we jump into the news of the week, I want to share some stories of the Lebanese students trapped in Ukraine. I spoke via phone with some of them and told their stories in my latest article on The New Arab. The pictures are taken by Beirut-based photojournalist Elisa Gestri.
As expected, the Russia-Ukraine war's impact involves several international actors, including Middle Eastern countries. Some of them have established relations with both Western countries and Russia. Now, they found themselves embroiled amid the polarization of the conflict.
Turkey
Turkey plays a pivotal role in this context. It has good ties with both Ukraine and Russia. For this reason, it has adopted cautious rhetoric on the crisis following the Russian forces' invasion last week. While calling Russia's invasion an unacceptable violation of international law, Turkey has carefully formulated its rhetoric not to offend Moscow, with which it has close energy, defense, and tourism relations. Ankara has also called for dialogue and offered to host peace talks.
However, Turkey has closed on Monday, Feb. 28, Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, following the conflict in Ukraine. According to the Montreux Convention, which regulates merchant and military maritime traffic into and out of the Black Sea, Turkey controls the straits that connect the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and can limit the passage of warships during wartime or if threatened.
The following day, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told national broadcaster Haberturk that Turkey had asked Russia not to send its ships through before it. He also said that Russia has said four of its ships would cross the straits between Feb. 27 and 28. "We told Russia not to send these ships, and Russia said the vessels would not cross the straits," he said. "Nobody should be offended by this because the Montreux Convention is valid today, yesterday and tomorrow, so we will implement it," the foreign minister added.
Although Turkey and Russia have stable relations based mainly on the energy sector, they have found themselves on opposite sides of conflicts in Azerbaijan, Libya, and Syria in recent years.
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Ukraine and met with its counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. They signed an agreement on military-financial cooperation. It provided for the Turkish side to allocate about $36 million for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the purchase of Turkish military and dual-use goods, including Bayraktar TB2 combat drones, which have become famous in recent years, appearing to play decisive roles in various conflicts, including Libya, Syria and Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts.
Russia seeks support in the Middle East
As sanctions against Russia continue to increase, Moscow will likely focus on states in the Islamic World and the Middle East for economic and political support.
Russia still hopes that it will be able to supply its weapons to the Middle East and play the role of mediator in settlement of Middle East conflicts.
Also, the Middle East and North African states are still interested in purchasing Russian grain. The war in Ukraine has already led to an increase in grain prices and the cessation of its supply.
At the same time, the sanctions imposed on Russia seriously restrict opportunities for interaction with the countries of the Islamic World.
There are already certain problems with the supply of Russian weapons. However, even this window may be closing.
Read the full analysis by Kirill Semenov on Al-Monitor.
Arab World divided on Russia-Ukraine war
The majority of Arab countries are trying to balance their relations with the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine.
The Arab League, meanwhile, took an essentially neutral position, with an emergency meeting on Sunday ending with a statement expressing "concern" regarding the "events" in Ukraine and stressing the importance of "continued coordination" to help Arab communities in Ukraine.
The organization, which held an emergency meeting on Monday, Feb. 28, at Egypt's request, said it supports "all efforts aimed at resolving the crisis through dialogue and diplomacy in a manner that preserves the security and safety of peoples in this important region of the world."
At the meeting, chaired by Kuwait, the Arab League stressed "the importance of respecting the principles of international law and the UN Charter."
However, following The United Nations' vote to condemn Russia's "aggression" against Ukraine on Mar. 2, members of the Arab League found themselves divided as some voted in favor while others abstained.
Iran's Supreme Leader speaks out about the Russia-Ukraine war
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday, Mar. 1, the war in Ukraine should be stopped and accused the "mafia-like regime" of the United States of creating the conflict.
While Tehran and Washington have been foes for decades, Iran and Russia have deepened trade ties and have been allies in the Syrian conflict.
"The U.S. regime creates crises, lives off of crises, and feeds on various crises in the World. Ukraine is another victim of this policy," Khamenei said in a televised speech.
"In my view, Ukraine is a victim of the crises concocted by the United States," he said. "There are two lessons to be learned here. States which depend on the support of the U.S. and Western powers need to know they cannot trust such countries."
Read more on Reuters.
Syrian rebels seek revenge against Russia in Ukraine
Foreign fighters from various countries have begun making their way to Ukraine in response to Kyiv's call for help fighting the Russian invasion – but for Syrian rebels seeking passage to eastern Europe, the battle is intensely personal.
Several Syrian fighters in northern Syria and Turkey are trying to travel and take up arms against Russia.
The opportunity to take revenge on Russia elsewhere has been too good to miss for some rebels.
Read the full story on Middle East Eye.
Taliban asserts neutrality over Russia-Ukraine conflict
The Taliban government in Afghanistan stated via Twitter on Friday, Feb. 25, calling for a resolution to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Afghanistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi requested that the situation be resolved through "dialogue and peaceful means."
The statement, posted in English on Twitter, read, "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine and expresses concern about [the] real possibility of civilian casualties. The Islamic Emirate calls for restraint by both parties. All sides need to desist from taking positions that could intensify violence."
The statement concluded by calling for "parties to the conflict to pay attention to safeguarding the lives of Afghan students and migrants in Ukraine."
Other short news from the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA)
Egypt: Biggest-ever cache of mummification tools unearthed in Egypt: deep inside a shaft in the cemetery of Abusir, near Cairo, a team of Egyptian and Czech Egyptologists has found a significant cache of equipment used more than 2,500 years ago to embalm mummies. Read on CNN.
Iran: Iran says it awaits the West's 'political decisions' in nuclear talks after its chief negotiator Ali Bagheri returned to Vienna. Read on France 24.
Morocco: About 2,500 sub-Saharan African migrants stormed the border fence separating the Spanish enclave of Melilla from Morocco, but Spanish security forces managed to stop the majority of them. Read on TRT World.
Algeria: Italy's foreign minister Luigi di Mario said to seek an increase in gas supplies from Algeria as Europe steps up its efforts to tap alternative flows following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Read on Reuters.
Palestine: Palestinian girl assaulted by Israeli forces during Muslim festival in Jerusalem. Two arrested and several injured near Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem during a festival marking Prophet Muhammad's journey to the heavens. Read on Middle East Eye.
Iraq: Ericsson breached US deal over Iraq corruption probe, The Swedish telecoms company said the US Department of Justice had concluded that its disclosure about an internal investigation was "insufficient". It comes after the BBC reported that the inquiry found the firm had insisted on contractors working in ISIS territory. This had resulted in a number of them being kidnapped by IS, the probe said. Read more on the BBC and this International Consortium of Investigative Journalism's investigation here.
That's all for this week. Thanks for reading Inshallah. Share this article and subscribe to be up to date about news from the Middle East every week. It's free.
About me
My name is Dario Sabaghi, a freelance journalist. I am interested in human rights and international news focusing on the MENA region.
Check out my work at dariosabaghi.com.
You can follow me on Twitter: @DarioSabaghi
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Cover photo: Pool photo by Pavel Golovkin / New York Times