Turkish Defence Minister meets Emir of Qatar
Just two weeks after Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travelled to Qatar to meet the Emir, Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad al-Thani, on his first trip abroad after the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar travelled to Doha this weekend for another meeting with the Qatari leader.
Although the details of the meeting were not disclosed - the Qatar press agency simply reported on the visit of the Turkish delegation - Al-Arabiya received a communiqué from the government of the Eurasian nation announcing the signing of new "financial agreements between the two countries".
However, the main issue that would have been on the table of the meeting would be the civil war in Libya, which has been open since 2011, and in which the Libyan National Army (LNA) and the Government of National Unity (GNA), the latter faction supported by Ankara and Doha, are facing each other. As explained by the Al-Ain media, it is no coincidence that Akar travelled to the Qatari capital just a few days after he visited Tripoli in Libya, to his surprise, on a trip in which he declared that Turkey intended to stay "forever" in the North African country, which ignited the spirits of both the rival side and the Libyan people, who called for demonstrations to reject Turkish interference.
"These statements came after the agreements reached between Ankara and Doha, which include a plan for the ruin of Libya, based on continued Turkish intervention and the transfer of more mercenaries, provided that Qatar provides material support to finance the project," explains analyst Ahmad Nasser in Al-Ain.
The war in Libya reached a peak of tension last week, when it seemed that everything was ready for the GNA, with the support of the nation of Erdogan, to launch an offensive on the geostrategic enclave of Sirte, under the control of the LNA. If it were carried out, Egypt would intervene militarily and directly in the conflict, opening a confrontation between Ankara and Cairo. However, despite the escalation in rhetoric, with continuous threats that the attack would take place, it has not yet happened. Both powers are measuring their forces: they have carried out massive military exercises in the vicinity of Libya that have had a deterrent effect on both, at least for the time being. But Turkey does not seem to be willing to give up Sirte, which is rich in oil, nor Al-Jufra - the second target of the offensive - where the country's largest air base is located, and in order to aspire to military victory it needs all the support it can get from its allies, such as Qatar, which has been financing the GNA campaign for the last year.
A Turkish official revealed, after a call between Erdogan and Al-Thani last June 23, that the main topic of discussion had been "purely financial" and that the Turkish executive "does not tire in its demands for more money from Doha to maintain the momentum of Turkish military operations in Syria and Libya. "Qatari gas money has played an important role in financing these conflicts and wars, especially since Turkey cannot bear their burdens due to the successive economic and financial crises witnessed by the country over the past few years," the source said at the time.
It should be mentioned at this point that the Turkish economy has weakened significantly in recent weeks, just at a critical time for the Eurasian nation's chances of victory in the Libyan contest. Public debt has shot up to 240 billion dollars, inflation is out of control - around 13% - and consumer prices have risen sharply, creating supply problems for the population. The value of the lira has plummeted and state banks have been forced to intervene with injections of up to $8.3 billion to refloat the local currency.
In this scenario, Ankara needs Doha's financial support more than ever, hence the signing of new "financial agreements" during the meeting between Akar and Al-Thani. So far, Qatar has accepted Turkey's demands without asking anything in return -at least nothing that has not been made public-, which for many analysts reflects the weak Qatari position in the region, subject to "blackmail" by the Eurasian nation, since without Ankara's support, Doha could lose its only ally in the Middle East, since it is subject to a major boycott since 2017 by its neighbours of the so-called Arab Quartet.