The powers of Mideast
Some people try to portray Turkey and Egypt as regional rivals but we feel this is highly misleading and senseless. These two countries can only compliment each other but they simply cannot substitute.
Turkey is a regional power with European links and a strategic partner of the United States. It has a robust economy and its resources surpass those of Egypt in every sense.
Egypt, on the other hand is a major player in the Middle East and a country with high esteem in Africa. It is a regional power with much prestige.
Turkey and Egypt can cooperate in opening new avenues for peace in the Middle East. The fact that Turkey has very warm ties with Israel and has recently forged closer ties with Syria is important. It offers new prospects for Turkish mediation between Israel and Syria.
It is a fact that while there can be no war in the Middle East without Egypt there can be no peace in the region without Syria. So Syria has to be brought into the equation in the peace process and if Ankara can use its good offices to do this it should be more than welcomed. No one should be jealous or concerned.
Both Egypt and Turkey should forge a joint strategy to use their potentials to work for a comprehensive solution in the Middle East. The Palestinian suffering has to be brought to an end and we feel the Arab countries are not doing enough to help this. Both Turkey and Egypt should unite their resources to help the Palestinian people and also tame the extremists.
We feel Turkey and Egypt should have been in closer consultation at the highest level on the Iraqi issue. They have both vested interests in Iraq as they both do not want to see the country fall apart.
