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Turkey Threatens to Launch 'Military Operations' in the Mediterranean

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Fayez al Sarraj, head of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) | (File photo: Presidential Press Office)
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Fayez al Sarraj, head of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) | (File photo: Presidential Press Office)
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Turkey Threatens to Launch 'Military Operations' in the Mediterranean

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Fayez al Sarraj, head of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) | (File photo: Presidential Press Office)
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Fayez al Sarraj, head of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) | (File photo: Presidential Press Office)

Turkish authorities threatened the use of force to “protect their interests” in the eastern Mediterranean region, praising the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), chaired by Fayez al-Sarraj, on the demarcation of the maritime borders in the Mediterranean region.

The spokesman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK), Omer Celik, said his country uses force to protect its national interests in the event there was a desire to establish a Turkish opposition organization anywhere.

Celik was referring to the trilateral agreement announced by Greece, Cyprus, and Israel on the gas pipeline to Europe during 2020, as well as the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum led by Egypt.

Speaking at AK’s Central Executive Board meeting, Celik noted that through the MoU signed with the GNA, Turkey has responded in a legal and diplomatic way to anyone trying to impose a specific policy and ignore its interests in the eastern Mediterranean.

He confirmed that the Turkish air force will continue to raise its flag in the eastern Mediterranean and that Ankara will only consider its national interests.

For his part, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said his country will stick to the memorandum it has concluded with Libya.

Oktay Turkey and Libya have the right to make joint decisions on maritime boundaries with their neighbors.

“When the stability of the region is at stake, we will make the necessary military cooperation and walk with our friends,” Oktay added.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara was ready to increase its military support to Libya if necessary and would evaluate ground, air, and marine options.

On December 21, the Turkish Parliament approved an MoU on security and military cooperation with Sarraj government. It included cooperation in the areas of security and military training, defense industries, counter-terrorism, and illegal migration.

They are also cooperating on logistics and maps, military planning, transfer of expertise, and the establishment of a mutual defense and security cooperation office if requested.

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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
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Cash Crunch Leaves Syrians Queueing for Hours to Collect Salaries

Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP
Syrian civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs, and withdrawals are capped. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares's face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.
"I've been here for four hours and I haven't so much as touched my pension," said the 77-year-old, who did not wish to give his full name.

"The cash dispensers are under-stocked and the queues are long," he continued.

Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad last December, Syria has been struggling to emerge from the wake of nearly 14 years of civil war, and its banking sector is no exception.

Decades of punishing sanctions imposed on the Assad dynasty -- which the new authorities are seeking to have lifted -- have left about 90 percent of Syrians under the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

The liquidity crisis has forced authorities to drastically limit cash withdrawals, leaving much of the population struggling to make ends meet.

Prior to his ousting, Assad's key ally Russia held a monopoly on printing banknotes. The new authorities have only announced once that they have received a shipment of banknotes from Moscow since Assad's overthrow.
In a country with about 1.25 million public sector employees, civil servants must queue at one of two state banks or affiliated ATMs to make withdrawals, capped at about 200,000 Syrian pounds, the equivalent on the black market of $20 per day.

In some cases, they have to take a day off just to wait for the cash.

"There are sick people, elderly... we can't continue like this," said Abu Fares.

'Meagre sums'
"There is a clear lack of cash, and for that reason we deactivate the ATMs at the end of the workday," an employee at a private bank told AFP, preferring not to give her name.

A haphazard queue of about 300 people stretches outside the Commercial Bank of Syria. Some are sitting on the ground.

Afraa Jumaa, a civil servant, said she spends most of the money she withdraws on the travel fare to get to and from the bank.

"The conditions are difficult and we need to withdraw our salaries as quickly as possible," said the 43-year-old.
"It's not acceptable that we have to spend days to withdraw meagre sums."

The local currency has plunged in value since the civil war erupted in 2011, prior to which the dollar was valued at 50 pounds.

Economist Georges Khouzam explained that foreign exchange vendors -- whose work was outlawed under Assad -- "deliberately reduced cash flows in Syrian pounds to provoke rapid fluctuations in the market and turn a profit".

Muntaha Abbas, a 37-year-old civil servant, had to return three times to withdraw her entire salary of 500,000 pounds.

"There are a lot of ATMs in Damascus, but very few of them work," she said.

After a five-hour wait, she was finally able to withdraw 200,000 pounds.

"Queues and more queues... our lives have become a series of queues," she lamented.