Is Turkey and Egypt’s legacy war the new scramble for Africa?

TURKMEN TERZI

HISTORICAL factors influence the current politics in the Middle East more than any other region in the world. 

Egypt, the Arab Leagues’ dominant country, and Turkey under the leadership of a president nostalgic for the glory of last Sunni Ottoman Khalifate, have gone toe to toe from Bagdad to Libya and in Yemen in recent years.

Are Ankara and Cario in a new scramble for African continent? There are few countries that have had political-military rivalries that have existed for as long as those of Egypt and Turkey in one form or another.

These two Mediterranean countries are regional allies of U.S. and between them have almost half of the Middle East’s people.

With the fall of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak fall in 2011, Turkey closely supported the government of Mohammad Morsi that followed Mubarak’s 30-year hold on power.

However, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been a fierce