Turkey Rejects AL’s Decision to Withdraw Troops from Iraq, Syria, Libya

On Thursday, Turkey’s foreign ministry announced its rejection of the Arab League (AL)’s decision to withdraw its troops from Iraq, Syria and Libya and stop interfering in the internal affairs of Arab countries.

In a statement, the Turkish ministry has claimed that the Arab League is acting at the guidance of some members that adopt a hostile stance toward Ankara, stating that the League pursues these “baseless accusations” in order to cover its own destructive agenda and activities.

It added that Turkey doesn’t take Arab League decisions against Ankara seriously, noting that it attached great importance to the territorial and political integrity of Arab states as well as to the region’s stability and acted to preserve these contrary to some regimes that are behind these decisions.

Notably, the foreign ministers of the Arab League countries reiterated their commitment to the Peace Initiative and condemned the Turkish and Iranian interference in Arab affairs.

The ministers held a virtual session on Wednesday, during which they discussed extensively developments in the Palestinian file.

On his part, the Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit stressed that the Palestinian issue would always remain a subject of Arab consensus.

He added that the peace plan included in the Arab Peace Initiative and adopted by the Arab summit in 2002 was “the basic plan and the starting point” for achieving a lasting, just, and comprehensive peace between Arabs and Israel.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry underlined “the need for a unified and resolute Arab policy to deter the Turkish regime, through more coordination between Arab countries.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez quoted Shoukry as saying that the “blatant” Turkish practices and interventions in many Arab countries represented the most important emerging threat to Arab national security.

According to the decisions issued at the end of the meeting, the Council of the Arab League agreed to “call on the member states to request the Turkish side not to interfere in Arab internal affairs and to stop provocative actions that undermine confidence-building and threaten the security and stability of the region.”

The Arab foreign ministers also called on Ankara to “withdraw all its forces from Arab territories.”