'Erdogan strives to control half of Iraq, half of Syria'

French specialist in Middle East affairs, Pierre Berthelot, said Friday that a cold war has been raging on between Saudi Arabia and Iran for some time now.

He added at a seminar by the Middle East Center for Studies in Paris, titled "Turkish foreign policies and their disastrous consequences on Europe", that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dreams of occupying half of Syria and half of Iraq in order to fulfil his ambition of reviving the Ottoman caliphate.

Attending the seminar was a large host of researchers and experts. They included Ahmed Youssef, Roland Lombardi, Joachim Veliocas, Garen Shnorhokian. Several Middle East specialists from Europe also attended the seminar, along with a large number of Arab and French journalists.