Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan is in Riyadh this week. He is trying his own hands on the mediation process between the feuding sister states.
With his growing profile in the eastern aisle, he stands a good chance to make his own mark.
Unfortunately, he is starting on the same track of the already established protocol of mediation.
From Riyadh he proceeds to Kuwait, the chief mediator. And from there, he will land in Doha.
Erdogan was here when the egg that hatched the conflict was conceived during Trump’s first and key visit to Saudi Arabia.
He was even among the four speakers King Salman selected to say something during the summit.
Whatever the outcome of the feud, Qatar has the best of sympathy from the world.
So if Erdogan starts this mediation from the establishment, he stands a bad chance to smudge his hard earned name with mud.
Except we are saying he is trying to play safe in a double standard -considering his own conflict with Europe over the death penalty. And that is a double jeopardy. Both are risky bids in his ambitious political calculations for supremacy, respect, recognition and for the extension of his term in office.
The four sisters against one in the feud had given a new list earlier this month, resulting from pressure of appeal and diplomacy. The new list was not different from the first. It is just a shrunk version of the earlier 13 demands into a new set of four. The difference, even if there is, is marginal, which makes them hell-bent on the demands.
And as we said penultimate week, Al-Jazeera still stands tall on the new list and is so pronounced because even in reporting the same issue or anything about the Gulf, Aljazeera is stitching added offences. That was why we said that week that this is all about Al-Jazeera. It is. Al-Jazeera is the only thorn in the flesh of the eastern authoritarians and their west allies.
Raised different questions
Since its establishment, Al-Jazeera network has raised a number of different questions on the conduct of the international system and relations between and among actors in the system.
The making of the gulf into a war zone has its location in history, in the Arab wars, Arab/Israeli wars and in the elimination of leaders like Jamaal Abdunnasir. And Al-Jazeera has been on hand to say it in a different way, to the surprises of the Arab citizens
In its unique narrative, Al-Jazeera digs into history to uncover the atrocities, the mistakes and the dubious pacts that led to the current nature of the region and its relations with the rest of the world.
Such productions are mostly independent, produced with the purest freedom and professional minds of seasoned journalists who were hired out of the BBC World and the CNN for new, high and attractive packages offered by Aljazeera.
The House of Atthaani has done every bit of the home work to take care of any foreseeable obstacle to the resolve to inform the world about the hidden and the misrepresented.
What was to follow was long expected and before now, Aljazeera had suffered arrests, detention and jailing of journalists as a result of covering issues relating to Guantanamo Bay, the Arab Spring and the Egyptian election that brought the Islamic Brotherhood to power.
The Egypt election was a litmus test, an eye opener for more ballot offences in Tunisia, Pakistan, and few other nations where the movements are strong contestants.
Both the Athhaani house and Al-Jazeera had suffered many other setbacks much diplomatic fevers to the ruling house of Doha.
Arab Spring
Aljazeera has direct links to the Arab Spring and the emergence of the Brotherhood in Egypt.
Anyone following its narrative and enlightened reports from the beginning knows Aljazeera was inspiring young Arabs to stand up for informed demand for freedom and rights long denied or limited by the Gulf monarchies/aristocracies.
It has narrated the conspiracies and their roots in history and the misinformation and hidden information and that woke and pained the young Arab hearts and motivated them to rise.
In the circumstances that followed, Aljazeera was the only channel in the world, then and now, that entertained questions like why did the Spring work in some states but failed or delayed in others. And when the secular Egyptian army stole the show from the brotherhood, Aljazeera was on hand to broadcast full accounts to the whys, the hows and the whos. Its journalists suffered jail terms.
In reporting oppositions anywhere, Al-Jazeera could easily be tagged pro-side because it pursues liberal values humans are entitled to, which is strange to Arab leaders and even to the societies because information had always been changed, limited or biased.
And while the ruling class took offence, revolutionaries took to new breaths of struggle. Critically taken, this also sounds like it was supporting the conspiracies especially when the revolutions in Libya turned the state into a war ground.
Universal value
But then Aljazeera’s pursuit is of universal value and in any case, every perspective has its limits, good and bad. That notwithstanding, Al-Jazeera went into the turmoil of the revolutions and came out into the war in Yemen which we said had exposed the house of Sauud, tired its allies and shamed the Arabs being the first open war between two Arab states.
In all, it is a road to the misfortunes of the architects and to their current tangle, which may also not spare the fortunes of neighbours in the region
This was happening when ultranationalist rose to a point to bring Trump to power; propelled the popularity of Marie Le Pen in France and informed many others in Europe.
But then the rise of Macron against Le Pen and the growing challenges to Trump’s power exercise in the USA and the world, ultranationalism isn’t yet a world order though it remains a strong force to reckon with.
The idea has already informed the Trump allies like Saudi to expel and return home many nationalists of other countries. Although this is a normal routine, the wave of deportation and its frequency has never been precedented. Something that ties to the sickness of the Saudi economy.
So, what has brought Erdogan to meddle in the Gulf conflict?
Is it an exercise of his world recognition and the importance of Turkey’s two gates to Europe and Asia? Does he want to seek any opportunity to add more cases to his Europe bid or withdrawal? What will the result be in that case?
Or, is it a renewed duty of the once powerful leader of the Islamic world – the Ottoman Empire, now seeing the chance to strengthen its Islamic sentiments against Europe and seizes an opportunity of a possible collapse of the Aal Saud so it may, again, take over the leadership and care of the Haramain?
AlJazeera is watching as a witness, analyst and pointer to the future near. Let us wait.
Hassan Hassan can be reached on abuna2406@gmail.com 08030633392(Whatsapp);
Follow the Neptune Prime channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va74ZvU2v1IqKByXoX3d
Do you have breaking news, interview request, opinion, suggestion, or want your event covered? Email us at neptuneprime2233@gmail.com
