The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas is not finding a political solution, but is entering a new round of tension that threatens to turn into a major regional conflict. What follows Recep Erdoğan’s statement on the possibility of Turkey entering the Palestinian conflict and the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran?

Will Turkey join the military conflict against Israel?

Turkey, under the rule of Recep Erdoğan, began to publicly engage in controversial polemics with Israel in 2009, starting with the Davos Summit. This was followed by an escalation in Turkish-Israeli relations after a shooting incident in 2010, when Israeli special forces prevented a Turkish navy humanitarian aid flotilla from entering the Gaza Strip.

After a while, Ankara and Tel Aviv, mediated by Baku, restored full relations and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to visit Turkey. Moreover, the Azerbaijani oil pipeline, which supplies Caspian oil to Israel, runs through Turkish territory. However, after 7 October, following the outbreak of military conflict between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, Turkey publicly supported the Palestinian side without receiving Israel’s support for its diplomatic initiatives for a political settlement of the conflict.

Such a position by Ankara irritates the Netanyahu government, which Erdoğan compares to Hitler, accuses of genocide and calls for the recognition of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. Recep Erdoğan pursues a policy of strengthening Turkey’s independence from external influences, has established partnership relations with the main centres of the world (especially China and Russia), aims to increase the role of his state in the system of international relations towards a regional superpower and the revival of imperial status within the framework of neopatrimonialist and neo-ottomanist strategies. Turkey is trying to position itself as the leader of the Islamic world and claims to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

The ambitions of the Turkish leadership are quite transparent. Erdoğan has begun to strengthen the........

© New Eastern Outlook