Kuwait bolsters ties with Turkey amid growing uncertainty in region

[meral]

Maliki has had no problem with Turkey, he tried to have good relations but Turkey was signing oil deals with KRG ignoring the Iraqi constitution and bringing Iraq in trouble meddling in internal affairs.
This is why relations are ruined.
An example is the leader of MHP wanted to visit Kerkuk probably to gain popularity showing support to the turkmen since MHP is a turkic nationalist party.
Its not Iraq that has been making Turkey an enemy.

Well Türkmens are heavily ignored and been under attack many times, it is very normal for MHP to visit cause there are many Türkmens who had been Turkish citizens, the 2nd representator of MHP is himself a Syrian-Türkmen. It is actually the mistake of AKP for not defending the rights of Kerkük-Türkmens. MHP is an Turkish-Islamic party and there are many ethnically non-Türks among them and they also get votes from South-East of Turkey.

 

[revojam]

I am personally againts AKP's idea of annexing KRG alone but if we were unite with whole Iraq i would support it , also AKP must stop following sunni-based islamist policy because forget Shias in Iraq AKP's sunni-based foreign policy alienating our own Alevis(not even talking about non-believers which called junkie by Tayyip himself).

 

[Doritos11]

I am personally againts AKP's idea of annexing KRG alone but if we were unite with whole Iraq i would support it , also AKP must stop following sunni-based islamist policy because forget Shias in Iraq AKP's sunni-based foreign policy alienating our own Alevis(not even talking about non-believers which called junkie by Tayyip himself).

I don’t think his plan is to annex it, it would spark more seperatist movements of Kurds.
What do you mean, islamic unification ?

 

[mahatir]

Kuwait, whose amir visited Turkey last week, aims to strengthen ties with Turkey, which is seen as an important regional power to the tiny energy-rich Gulf country, amid growing uncertainty in the politically fragile Middle East, analysts have agreed.

Kuwaiti Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s landmark visit to Turkey last Monday set the stage for increased economic, diplomatic and military ties as both countries signed eight agreements, including a defense deal to improve bilateral relations between the two allies.

While the Middle East is going through tough times due to the more than two-year-long crisis in war-torn Syria, Kuwait sees Turkey as a strong balancing power in the region against the countries supporting the Syrian regime, namely Iran and Iraq.

Since the start of the Syrian crisis, Iraq’s Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, known to be close to embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s main ally Iran, has given unequivocal support to the Assad regime.

The relations between Ankara and Baghdad are not only tense due to the Syrian crisis but also because Turkey believes the Iraqi Shiite-led government is monopolizing power at the expense of other groups in the country. Ankara said the Iraqi government was suppressing Sunni Arabs and other groups, while the Iraqi government accused Turkey of pursuing “hostile” policies in the region and interfering in Iraqi affairs.

According to analysts, Turkey was not the only country concerned over Maliki’s Shiite -dominated policies, but also Kuwait -- which has a considerable Shiite population -- sees the Shiite-led governments’ policies as a danger to the stability and security of the region.

“Kuwait started to perceive a vital threat against its stability from Iran in general and Iraq in particular in recent times due to the Shiite policies of the two countries. Signing a defense agreement with Turkey is a sign that shows Kuwait’s concern over Maliki’s recent decisions,” said Muhittin Ataman, an expert on Turkey-Gulf relations at the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), in remarks to Sunday’s Zaman.

Turkey not only signed a deal of military cooperation with Kuwait but also with other Gulf countries, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia-- two of the staunchest states seeking the fall of the Syrian regime -- last year.

Turkey and Kuwait have adopted a similar stance regarding the regional issues, particularly on the Syrian one, in the diplomatic sphere.

Kuwait, a country aspiring to take on a larger Mideast regional diplomatic role, has criticized the regime in Syria over its suppression of a pro-democracy uprising in the country.

Kuwait considers Turkey a balancing power

Bilateral relations between Turkey and Kuwait have gained momentum in recent years thanks to the increasing number of high-level visits from both sides.

With the growing regional role of Turkey, all internal and external developments related to the country are closely followed by the Kuwaiti government, media and the public.

“Kuwait considers strengthening relations with Turkey as a pragmatic move that would serve its national interest because it perceives Turkey as the only balancing power against Iran as well as against Iraq in the region,” Ataman remarked.

In order to maintain the balance in the region, Kuwait is in need of cooperating with Turkey against Iraq -- which gets Iranian support and pursues policies against Turkey -- Ataman said, adding, “Indeed cooperation with the Gulf countries, particularly Kuwait, also complies with Turkey’s national interests.”

Kuwait, along with the other Gulf Arab states, are against Iran’s intervention in regional issues. Iran sees the Gulf as its own backyard and believes it has a legitimate interest in expanding its influence there.

According to analysts, as Iran increases its military power in the region, Gulf states, including Kuwait, feel the necessity to increase their military power, and they consider Turkey -- which desires to maintain stability and security in the Gulf -- a reliable partner with which they can strengthen their military cooperation.

Gökhan Bacık, an academic teaching international relations at Gaziantep’s Zirve University, maintained that the Gulf countries, Kuwait in particular, have come closer to Turkey with the understanding of establishing an alliance against Iran. “Recently, Iraqi concern has also emerged among Gulf countries due to Maliki’s policies. The most important problem of the Gulf countries is demography. These countries have an important portion of the Shiite population, which Iran can easily influence from time to time,” Bacık told Sunday’s Zaman.

Issues such as Iran’s nuclear program, the Arab Spring, Iranian influence on the Shiite population in the Gulf States and Iraq’s monopolizing policies in the region are considered to be important factors for cooperation between Turkey and the Gulf states.

“The Turkey-Gulf relationship is based on pragmatism,” Bacık said.

Source: Kuwait bolsters ties with Turkey amid growing uncertainty in region

By the way Kuwait and Qatar are interested most in building oil and gas pipelines through Turkey to Reach European markets , this now is feasible given Assad will fall , Syria will connect Turkey with the oil and gas of the whole Gulf.

The Persian minority Running Iran simply despises and hates everyone be it Turks or Arabs so its understandable why Gulf and Turkey relations improved greatly .

In Iran there are Shiah Arab and Azeri minorities yet they are discriminated against by the persians , remember guys this problem is not about Shiah Vs Sunni , but rather about the bigotry and hatred that the persians have towards non persian people .

Sunni brotherhood is only going to get stronger and stronger while the Shia sect members who are a tiny minority already, are only getting more and more desperate best exemplified by the Iranian Mullah regime and their political allies. We all see their desperate situation in Syria and their willingness to support the Child-Murderer and genocide against Sunnis.

Apart from that then GCC relation with Turkey is excellent and Turkey constantly seeks better ties to GCC and vice versa.

But Turkey are not needed per se. Just a fellow Sunni ally and regional ally that has a booming economy just like the GCC, unlike Iran.

Kuwait is pretty secure and doing good from what I can see. I do not think that they should be wary of any Iranian attack as they are part of GCC and have many powerful allies be they regional or international.

In fact I do not believe that Iran will attack anybody since they are a failed regime. We heard the same song from Saddam before the 1991 and 2003 invasions but nothing ever happened.

In short, no Middle Eastern regime has any chance against NATO.

There are many Shiah people who are great and honourable , the only problem stems from the persian bigots running Iran . Just take a look at a country like Azerbijan , mostly inhabited by Shiah Turks but they after all chose to stand with their brethen in Turkey based on a common ethnicity and language rather than Iran .

Let hope Sunni and Shia arab will learn to respect each other the way Turkish sunnis and Azeri shia do .

 

[mahatir]

Why do Shia people want to lean on iran? What did Maliki do to have better ties with Turkey? It would be really cool if Irak was secular and people wouldnt get polarized to religion sects

Not All Shiah people support Iran , Azerbijan is 88% shiah azeri but they respect sunnis living there and a civilized secular modern country . The problem stems from Mullah regime of Iran , they started this bullshit about sunni and shiah . Many people did not even know the difference between sunni and shiah until the disgusting extremist Iranian mullah regime came into power 1979 .