Eurasia Press & News
The Turkish president’s speech on Wednesday aligned himself more firmly with the Sunni Muslim world, while pushing aside the benefits of closer ties with Israel and other regional economies.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday ditched any semblance of neutrality in the Gaza conflict, saying that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was not a terrorist organization but “a patriotic liberation movement fighting to protect Palestinian lands and people.”
Speaking to lawmakers from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdogan called Hamas “mujahideen,” the Arabic word for those fighting for their faith, eliciting thunderous applause in the chamber. “Israel is killing children. We will not allow the killing of children,” Erdogan vowed, calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. “We had a project to go to Israel, but it was cancelled. We will not go,” Erdogan added.
It didn’t take long for Israel to respond. Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat said his country “wholeheartedly rejects the Turkish President’s harsh words about the terrorist organization Hamas.” Haiat added in a post on X, “Hamas is a despicable terrorist organization worse than ISIS that brutally and intentionally murders babies, children, women and the elderly, takes civilians hostage and uses its own people as human shields.”
The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said at least 6,546 Palestinians, including 2,704 children, have been killed since Israel launched its air campaign against the enclave in response to the militant group’s attack on southern Israel Oct. 7. The official death toll in Israel stands at about 1,400.
Erdogan’s salvos mark a pronounced shift from his uncharacteristically subdued reaction in the early days of the conflict. His earlier caution was widely attributed to worries that anti-Israel rhetoric would harm Ankara’s efforts to mend ties with Israel and regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia, just as Turkey is trying to salvage its battered economy by attracting foreign funds, including from Gulf countries.
Ankara expelled several Hamas operatives as part of that effort. It nonetheless continues to maintain close links to the group’s political leaders, who continue to shuttle between Turkey and Qatar. Those ties have come under greater scrutiny since Oct. 7. As Al Monitor first reported, Hamas’ political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who was in Turkey on the day of the attack, was asked “politely” by his Turkish hosts to leave, together with several of his colleagues. Ankara did not deny the report, noting merely that Haniyeh had not been “kicked out” as other outlets subsequently claimed.
Setback to Israeli relations
Erdogan made it clear in his speech today that Turkey’s ties with Israel are now on ice. This makes it even less likely that Ankara can mediate between Hamas and the Jewish state for the release of more than 200 hostages being held by the militants in Gaza. “We were on a different path, but sadly we are here,” Erdogan noted, adding that despite the backing of the United States and the West, Israel would not achieve “anything by raining bombs on children.”
Relations between Turkey and Israel have been rocky since Erdogan shot to power 20 years ago, mainly over Gaza and Ankara’s embrace of Hamas. “The normalization that began last year with Israel is in tatters now,” said Alan Makovsky, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a former congressional staffer who has spent long years covering Turkey. Makovsky recalled that Erdogan has referred to Hamas as “resistance fighters,” in the past. “However, calling them “liberators” in the context of this war and the post-10/7 world will be widely seen as actual support for Hamas’ operations and ideology — in fact, as a justification for October 7,” Makovsky asserted.
On Saturday, Erdogan will address a rally in support of Palestine, a day before Turkey marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the modern republic by Kemal Ataturk on Oct. 29, where further diatribes against Israel are sure to feature. Critics charge that Erdogan has seized on the tragedy unfolding in Gaza to downplay the anniversary because of his animosity to Ataturk’s drive to stamp out religion from the public sphere. As a result, “Turkey will wake up to see the Palestine rally featuring on front-page headlines rather than 100 years of Ataturk’s republic,” observed Barcin Yinanc, a foreign policy analyst for the weekly ANKA newsletter.
Erdogan’s change in tone may be linked to several calculations. After months of delay, on Monday he finally sent Sweden’s NATO accession bid to Turkey’s parliament for ratification, bringing the Scandinavian nation a step closer to joining the western security bloc.
He likely believes that satisfying this key ask from Washington frees him to go hard on Israel, without paying a price.
Timothy Ash, an emerging markets economist who closely follows Turkey, says he does not believe that Erdogan’s speech will rattle investors, arguing it’s well understood that it’s linked to his moves on Sweden and that it “gives him some freedom to lead the Arab street.”
“He knows that the United States will have to make difficult choices as to how far they can criticize him. Qatar, most of the Middle East have said the same thing [about Hamas],” Ash contended.
Unal Cevikoz, a former Turkish ambassador and opposition lawmaker, said, “The message from Erdogan to the United States is ‘We’ll say OK to Sweden, but stay out of our regional business.’”
Cevikoz believes that Erdogan’s tirade may set back burgeoning economic recovery under the new economy minister Mehmet Simsek. “This outburst may well have caused him a cardiac spasm,” Cevikoz said.
Erdogan is also under pressure to satisfy his pious conservative base. His Islamist rivals have spouted fury at Israel, notably Ahmet Davutoglu, the former AKP prime minister, who broke away to form his own party in 2019 and has been parading around the Parliament draped in the Palestinian flag. It hasn’t helped that Erdogan’s far-right nationalist ally, Devlet Bahceli, called for Turkey to directly intervene in the conflict unless a ceasefire was swiftly reached. “It is our legacy from our ancestors to undertake the mission of protecting Gaza,” he wrote on X. “The Turkish Republic is ready to make Gaza a city of happy children and an Islamic town where our brothers will live in peace and security.”
Gonul Tol, director of the Middle East Institute’s Turkey program, believes that Erdogan’s actions are also driven by concerns over legacy. “Erdogan wants his legacy to be the leader of the Muslim world, the protector of Sunni Muslims, and this is his moment,” Tol said.
Cevikoz concurred, “If Hamas needs to be defended, then he feels that he needs to be the one doing it, not Davutoglu or Bahceli. It’s all about domestic politics.”
Recent opinion polls suggest, however, that most Turks do not want escalation with Israel. According to Metropoll, a polling outfit based in Ankara, only 11 percent of those surveyed said they believed Turkey ought to be defending Hamas. A plurality — 34.5 percent — said that Turkey should remain neutral in the conflict.
Diplomatic fallout
Whatever the domestic consequences, the diplomatic fallout is starting to be felt. Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini called Erdogan’s comments “grave and disgusting” and said they “did not help with de-escalation.”
Erdogan has condemned the civilian deaths that resulted from Hamas’ rampage, but without naming the militants.
The effects will likely be felt in the United States Congress as well. The US Senate has pledged to approve the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey once the Turkish parliament greenlights Sweden’s accession.
But Tol said, “At a time when there is a bipartisan call for the destruction of Hamas in the US Congress, Erdogan’s remarks are likely to erode whatever goodwill his submission of Sweden’s NATO bid to the parliament might have generated.” Moreover, it remains unclear when the Parliament, where the AKP and its nationalist allies command a majority, will actually vote on the bill.
“I don’t think this statement is primarily about domestic political tactics or foreign policy. It reflects who the man is. His statements over the years show great affection for Hamas,” Makovsky told Al-Monitor. “This will have hugely negative consequences for Turkey in the US Congress, where regard for Erdogan could hardly get lower, and well beyond, perhaps throughout the Western world.”
