Why is Erdogan in Tunisia?

We received a pleasant and refreshing surprise when we heard President Qais Saeed received the first president from a neighbouring country since taking over office and that this distinguished guest was the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday.

We welcome this man and his honourable positions. He is one of the founders of the Kuala Lumpur summit aiming to unite the 1.7 billion Muslims in the world and accomplished a miracle in Turkey, taking it from being ranked 93rd in terms of development and progress to number 16. Turkey was also ranked among the 20 strongest and largest countries in the world.

We welcome you to the land of Tunisia, which was the pioneer in declaring the Arab Spring, even if the spring of freedoms and glory faltered due to the winds of enemies of the people, the mercenaries living off the money of the foreign forces that long to enslave and gag vulnerable nations. Even if the international colonial corruption system that is subjugated to Zionism have delayed the Arab Spring by supporting the winter of oppressing, murdering, torturing and burying the opposition in concrete bridges and displacing 20,000 citizens in exile. We welcome you in the land of Uqba Bin Nafeh, Ibn Khaldun, Tariq Bin Ziyad, and Minister Khair Al-Din Pasha, the author of the book “Aqwam al-masālik fī marifaẗ aḥwāl al-mamālik”, who your ancestors appointed to the high post of Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, i.e. prime minister of the Ottoman caliphate government at a time when reformers held high positions, not like today when our high positions are filled with the corrupt.

After welcoming our guest, we must point out that the short visit culminated in a rich cooperation between the two countries and was devoted to announce projects beneficial to the Tunisian people. This includes Turkey building a children’s hospital, importing dates and olive oil and doubling the trade volume between both countries. They also discussed the area neighbouring Tunisia and the dangerous situation experienced by Tunisia’s closest neighbour, i.e. wounded Libya, which is suffering a civil war that is no longer a civil war because some of the new rebellion and colonial forces as well as foreign militias which have intervened, along with the revolt against the internationally-recognised legitimate government. This is also because the weapons and funds are being pumped to the rebels and are killing innocent Libyans and civilians. The most recent incident is Arab planes bombing a market in the town of Msallata, killing women and children.

Erdogan: Tunisia will help stability efforts in Libya

As President Erdogan said, Tunisia is the closest neighbour to Libya and has the longest borders with it. It also has many tribal and familial ties with the Libyan people, and therefore it is in the line of fire and targets of the enemies of the legitimacy and those with selfish and narrow interests. They disregard the lives of the Libyans in order to gain oil and gas resources and appoint a military dictator who will repeat the history of his master Muammar Gaddafi.

President Erdogan stressed that the Berlin track, which will start at the beginning of the New Year, is what we should have high hopes for because Germany is a neutral country with unbiased and influential diplomacy. He announced that he asked Chancellor Angela Merkel to invite Tunisia, Algeria and Qatar to the Berlin conference because, in his opinion, these countries are qualified to contribute to finding peaceful and consensual solutions to the Libyan conflict. They are also countries that are trusted and appreciated by the Libyans.

To those who are unaware of the ancient history of the Turkish-Libyan relations, we say that when Turkish General Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was the pillar of the Ottoman army, he was sent by Sultan Abdul Hamid to Libya in 1911 to participate in the resistance and defeat the fascist Christianising Italian colonisers. Ataturk was wounded by artillery shrapnel in his eye in the Battle of Derna, and he suffered the effects of the wound for the rest of his life. He also assumed power after Sultan Abdel Hamid in 1923 and the imperial forces that won in WWI forced him to sign the 24 July 1923 treaty, which is humiliating to Turkey. This treaty lasts an entire century and will end in 2023 and the Turkish giant will be freed from its chains to impose its strong legitimate and peaceful presence on the international scene.

READ: Turkey’s Erdogan in Tunisia for surprise talks with president

The security of Tunisia, the security of Turkey, and the safety of the Mediterranean are all hostages to the end of the conflict in Libya. Either the legitimacy, democracy and the will of the peoples represented by Fayez Al-Sarraj and recognised by the entire international community will be victorious or the collapse, decline and setbacks wanted by the retired rebel Haftar and his terrorist right hand, who is wanted by the ICC, Mahmoud Al-Werfalli, who kills innocents with a machine gun and takes videos of the massacres he commits without any shame or morals. This is what awaits the neighbouring nations if legitimacy in Libya is defeated, God forbid.

The Islamic world is moving towards liberating its energies, restoring its glory, recovering its wealth, and deciding their own destiny with their own hands.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Al-Sharq on 27 December 2019 

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.