From Yemen to Libya ... How do Qatar and Turkey's efforts converge to dispel peace

South24| Badr Mohammed and Ayad Qassem

The signing of the "security understanding agreement" between the Government of National Accord and Qatar, on Monday, came a practical translation for the Tripoli government’s statement following the ceasefire agreement in Geneva on October 23, with the National Army led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, that “ The Geneva agreement does not recognize the legitimacy of Haftar's forces and does not include the relationship with Turkey.

In addition, the security agreement with Qatar seeks to confirm the legitimacy of the Government of National Accord, as it strengthens its assertion that the relationship with Turkey exists, as well as the recent relationship with Doha. It also reinforces Turkish President Erdogan's statement that the Geneva Agreement is "disedited."

In Doha, the interior ministers of Libya and Qatar signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" in the field of security cooperation and the exchange of information about terrorist organizations and networks. It also provides for the exchange of expertise and technical training that the security services need in various specializations in order to monitor cybercrimes. [1]

Qatar and the Libyan Government of National Accord do not have a record of any kind in the fight against terrorism, compared to the amount of accusations leveled by their opponents in the region and Western reports that they stand, especially Qatar, in supporting and financing terrorist organizations. [2]

 
Agreement to agreement

At a time when the Geneva Agreement between the Libyan factions received a wide international welcome that encourages an end to the crisis and a course of completion of the political and diplomatic track, the Turkish pessimistic statement came out of this consensus. Turkey's position was reflected in the statement of the Libyan Government of National Accord, which emphasized the illegality of Haftar's forces and the continuation of the relationship with Turkey.

The agreement with Qatar also "received the same amount of international rejection, which sees this as a undermining of the Geneva Agreement and threatening to collapse the political process and the ceasefire."

Commenting on the agreement, the US State Department’s regional spokesman, Samuel Warburg, confirmed to Al-Hurra TV the US’s rejection of any foreign interference in Libya from any party, stressing the need to give Libyans the opportunity to decide the fate of their own future. [3]

Both Qatar and Turkey play the supporting and supportive role of the Libyan Government of National Accord, which came as a result of the so-called 2011 Arab Spring revolutions in the region.

There is no benefit to Qatar from concluding a security agreement with the Libyan Government. In addition to Turkey's desired benefit from Libyan oil, Turkey is still going through an economic crisis that makes the Qatari side tthe only donor to this tripartite alliance in light of the blockade imposed by the Arab Quartet: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain.

In such an alliance, the language of ideological thought seems to dominate over the language of political interests. The Libyan government is the last adherent to the Muslim Brotherhood in the Libyan and Arab West.

In the Arab East, specifically in Yemen, Qatar and Turkey stand by the Yemeni government, which is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood, the "Islah Party", in a position and a political, security, military and international endeavor that is a completely similar version of the Libyan situation. In conjunction with the Yemeni crisis approaching political and diplomatic solutions, represented by the "Riyadh Agreement" between the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council.

The signs of hope looming on the horizon of the Yemeni crisis are mainly shocked by military and security efforts led by Yemeni governmental, political and religious parties, which have media and financial support and, most likely, military support from Doha and Istanbul. [4]

 
Ideology of Violence

The influential parties within the "legitimacy" system in Yemen, which is controlled by the Islamic organization, believe that the agreement, signed in November 2019, aims to strip its legitimacy and grant it to the STC, which they accuse of rebelling against the legitimacy of the government.

In Yemen, there is an international consensus that supports and confirms the completion of the political solution represented by the Riyadh Agreement. Now, in Libya, the same consensus is being achieved on the Geneva agreement in the face of the intransigence of the Brotherhood and its supporters, Qatar and Turkey.

In both Libya and Yemen, the same Qatari-Turkish government position is taken from the game of procrastination, delay and circumvention of political agreements, as a way to thwart them. This strategy is a response to what they consider a conspiracy to thwart their rule and political administration in their domestic depths.

In order to achieve this, the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood does not refrain from concluding covert and overt deals with similar ideological groups, some of which are classified as "terrorism".

This trend is reinforced by what Iranian media revealed, on Tuesday, which was republished by "South24" on Wednesday, about negotiations that are currently underway between the Islah party, the Muslim Brotherhood branch in Yemen, and the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, under Qatari auspices. The negotiations aim to persuade the Islah party to accept the Houthi initiative, and to preserve their achievements in Marib. [5]

Because the principles of extremist ideological and religious organizations in complex crises are not different, the Iranian newspaper Al-Waqt says, “In the past few months, the Houthi government in Sana'a has opposed international and regional mediation calling for an end to the clashes and progress around Marib.” [5]

"The efforts of Turkey and Qatar to undermine peace efforts in Yemen will push towards further international isolation for them and the Muslim Brotherhood."

Once again, this dispels doubts about Qatar's efforts to obstruct the peace efforts made by the UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the efforts of Saudi Arabia to make the Riyadh agreement successful. [6]

From this angle, not only the Houthis in Sanaa, but also the international organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, in Marib and Tripoli, are starting to procrastinate, resort to violence and escalate the language of war. That reflect their ideological convictions in a practical way that does not accept a political defeat in a democratic spirit, and does not deal with the principles of presenting Waivers.

Such an approach, led by a country like Qatar alongside Turkey, places the Muslim Brotherhood in a position similar to other extremist organizations and groups classified as "terrorist" movements in the region, and may push towards greater international isolation towards these parties, including countries in Europe and America, on the other hand. Although the oil-rich emirate still enjoys international immunity based on the principle of "profit" pursued by some major countries.

- Badr Mohammad: Researcher at the South24 Center for News and Studies, specializing in affairs of religious groups

- Ayad Qassem: Head of the South24 Center for News and Studies

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