‘Turkey copying Iran's interference in Arab affairs’: Arab League official

The Arab League Tuesday blasted Iranian and Turkish involvement in regional affairs and for not seeking good relations with its neighboring countries.

“The Turkish and Iranian interference in Arab affairs must stop,” Assistant Secretary General of the Arab League, Hossam Zaki, said.

Iran’s involvement in Arab conflicts, directly and via proxies and militias, has been controversial for years, specifically in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. The Arab world has condemned Turkey’s interference in the Syrian war, and most recently, the Libyan conflict.

“The Turkish interference in Libya, Syria, Iraq and its use of foreign fighters and terrorists to Libya is rejected and condemned by the Arab world,” Zaki told Egypt’s Middle East News Agency.

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Zaki said that Turkey was hiding behind its agreement with the Libyan government for economic, political and military goals.

This comes a day after the head of the Arab League said that Turkey’s military interference Iraq, Syria and Libya had “become a cause for concern.”

On Tuesday, Zaki said, “the Turks are now imitating the Iranian approach … to the Arab world.”

The current pandemic and ensuing economic difficulties facing countries around the region have created opportunities for disruptive, foreign interference. What Iran and Turkey are doing, Zaki said, was to drive wedges between sects and create sectarian divide and conflicts in Arab states.

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As for a solution to the Libyan conflict, Zaki said the Arab world supports the Egyptian-backed initiative as a chance to lead to a political settlement.