Emergence of the Turkish/Qatari Alliance in the Middle East: Making of the Moderate Resistance Bloc

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to analyze the growing alliance between Turkey and Qatar since the beginning of the Arab Uprisings, and the various implications of this development on the regional system in the Gulf Region and the broader Middle East. More specifically, the chapter presents the argument that the rise of the Turkish/Qatari alliance, and its Muslim Brotherhood-oriented regional strategy in the 2010s, led to the emergence of a third bloc among the two preexisting regional blocs in the broader Middle East, namely the Saudi Arabia-led status quo bloc and the Iran-led revisionist bloc. The third Turkey/Qatar-led bloc can best be described as the moderate resistance bloc, since it includes both moderate and resistance elements in its alternative regional strategy. Although the moderate resistance bloc has faced many setbacks and pressures since 2013, Turkey and Qatar still hold their ground among the status quo and revisionist blocs and continue to adopt an alternative regional stance.