With allies like Erdoğan, who needs enemies?

By Georgi Gotev|@GeorgiGotev

“The main culprit behind the massacre unfolding in Gaza is the West.”

These are not messages by the Islamic State. These are words uttered before a crowd of 1.5 million people by the leader of a NATO member country that is also a candidate for EU membership.

On Saturday. addressing possibly the largest pro-Palestinian rally since the Israel-Hamas war began, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel’s allies of fomenting a civilisational conflict and said:

“Oh, West, I am calling on you, do you want to start a Crescent-Crusader conflict again? If this is your intention, you should know Türkiye is not dead, it is standing tall, with the same level of commitment we have in the Middle East, as we were in Libya and Karabakh.”

Standing above a sea of red Turkish flags, Erdoğan called Israel an “occupier”, a “war criminal” and “a pawn in the region” that was being used by Western powers to stamp their authority on the Middle East”. 

Before that, Erdoğan also reacted negatively when the US decided to send an aircraft carrier closer to Israel.

Unlike the EU and the US, Turkey does not consider Hamas a terrorist organisation. Erdoğan called Hamas “freedom fighters” this week. Turkey calls terrorists only its perceived enemies, especially the Kurds.

Soon after Erdoğan’s remarks, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said he had ordered a withdrawal of Israeli diplomatic representatives from Turkey. He added that there will be a reevaluation of the ties between the two countries.

By the time of publishing this Brief, there have been no similar reactions from EU and NATO capitals, to the best of our knowledge. But it must hurt even more when you’re backstabbed by an ally.

Turkey-Israel relations have always been difficult, but Turkey is a key ally in NATO and even hosts US nuclear bombs. Needless to say, NATO is a defence alliance that symbolises the West and everything it stands for.

Moreover, the pro-Palestine rally was meant to celebrate modern Turkey’s 100th anniversary, paying tribute to the republic’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

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Look out for…

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[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Nathalie Weatherald]