A Sunni Alliance?

Very good article from Stratfor about Saudi Arabia’s efforts to reconcile the Turkish Islamists and the Egyptian socialists, in order for the two countries to join the Sunni alliance promoted by Saudi Arabia against the rise of Iran. I must say that the Saudis are paying a very high price for their “friends”. As you can see at the following table from Statfor, Saudi Arabia has the smallest population of the three countries, but she has by far the largest GDP (income) per inhabitant.

Egypt – Saudi Arabia – Turkey : A Comparison

https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/sunni-alliance-creates-strange-bedfellows

The main problem for the Saudi-Turkish-Egyptian alliance is that the three countries have different priorities. Iran is the main problem for Saudi Arabia, Russia is the main problem for Turkey, and Turkey is the main problem for Egypt. Therefore the main problem is the Turkey-Egypt relation. But the discovery of the Zohr natural gas field in August 2015, which is the largest gas field of the East Mediterranean Sea, made Turkey a potential importer of Egyptian gas. That can certainly help Turkey and Egypt to reach some kind of agreement. Besides the gas deals, both Turkey and Egypt want the Saudi money.

Stratfor says that Turkey might have to accept the socialist government of General Sisi in Egypt, and in exchange the Egyptian socialists might have to “cool” their stance towards the Egyptian Islamists.

“A Sunni Alliance Creates Strange Bedfellows”, January 2016

https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/sunni-alliance-creates-strange-bedfellows