Erdogan seeks to seize Lebanon’s oil

Mostafa Kamel

Turkey is seeking to control its neighboring countries, especially those on the Mediterranean as Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to remove the Arab identity by focusing on the Sunni regions in a bid to restore the so-called Ottoman caliphate. Erdogan has set his eyes on Lebanon’s oil, especially after he signed a demarcation agreement with Libya’s Government of National Accord, which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood militias in Libya.

Hulusi Akar, Turkish Minister of Defense, said that Lebanon would get around 1,528 square miles, claiming that the agreement will also guarantee Lebanon’s share in the Mediterranean natural gas.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu visited Lebanon in August 2019 to discuss oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean waters in the wake of a demarcation agreement with Fayez al-Sarraj-led government in Tripoli.

The Turks have recently claimed, following the dubious Turkish-Libyan agreement with the Libya’s Government of National Accord, that Çavuşoğlu’s visit to Lebanon had borne fruit in boosting Turkish influence on Lebanon and to claim their right to oil and gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean waters.

The Turkish regime claims that Turkey is the heir to the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish regime also claims that the Ottoman Empire had founded the seeds of modern army, security forces, banking, railways, laws, state institutions and universities in Lebanon.