President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently announced that the security of Ankara passes through Damascus and Beirut. It is no longer an issue of emotion and feelings of solidarity. Lebanon and Syria are national security matters. In Syria, Türkiye has a good level of security cooperation with the al-Sharaa government. The same cannot be said of Lebanon.
To start with, Lebanon went behind Türkiye’s back and demarcated the maritime border with the Greek Cypriot administration, which raised the ire of Ankara. Beirut did not inform Damascus and Ankara when it established its maritime boundary with Greek Cypriots, knowing it would affect their own negotiations in the highly contested Eastern Mediterranean area. Ankara also finds the deal unacceptable as it violates the rights of Turkish Cypriots on the island. Social media accounts circulated that Fidan had a tense conversation with the Lebanese prime minister on the sidelines of the Doha forum last year. Hence, the relationship is far from exemplary.
The attitude toward Israel is another issue regarding the current Lebanese government. Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri, in an interview, said that the Cabinet refused to file a complaint against Israel, though he urged them to do so. On the contrary, the government raised a complaint at the United Nations Security Council against Iran for interfering in its internal affairs.
