Western Sahara conflict tests Turkey-Algeria ties
Turkey’s continued cold war with the Saudi bloc is adding fuel to the brewing conflict in Western Sahara between Algeria and Morocco.
The cold war between Saudi-led Arab states and Ankara is expanding to new territory. This is bad news for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who wanted to contain the tensions.
While Turkey hoped to improve ties through back door channels, Saudi Arabia began an unofficial boycott against Turkish goods, services and all things Turkish. Turkey fears other Arab countries, except for its sole ally Qatar, will be pressured to join.
Still, Qatar has its limits. Despite Erdogan’s choleric outburst against Abu Dhabi for normalizing relations with Israel, Doha reacted calmly, expressing respect for the sovereign decisions of Bahrain and the Emirates in line with Doha’s efforts to end the blockade.
A senior diplomat from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “Although we are confident Erdogan and Qatari emir will remain friends, we observe that Doha is scaling back not to confront its neighbors directly, which means we have to take more risks.”
