Opinion
Vantage | Why Israel-Hamas war has tied Erdogan in knots
Erdogan thinks of himself as a great statesman and wants the world to believe he is a great leader
The Vantage Take Last Updated:October 25, 2023 20:09:12 IST 
(File) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Reuters
If we turn our attention to the north of Israel, to a player with high stakes in the region and in the Israel-Hamas war, we come to Turkiye and their president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan is caught between a rock and a hard place.
Let us explain why. Erdogan thinks of himself as a great statesman and wants the world to believe he is a great leader. His country is a NATO member and expected to help Western allies and support Israel.
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At the same time, he also wants to position himself a champion of Muslims – the new age caliph reviving the Ottoman glory, which is why he keeps talking about Kashmir, and wading into issues that he has no business talking about. In this role, he’s expected to support Palestinians.
Now, these two images of statesman and religious champion have collided. Add to this Erdogan’s personal ambition – he wants to be a peace broker. But you can’t do all three – support Israel, support Hamas and mediate between the two. So, he’s walking a tightrope.
The tightrope
Trying to appease both factions, Erdogan has taken the least controversial stance since this war began. “We want the Israeli administration to stop their bombardment of Palestine soil, beginning with Gaza, and the Palestinians to stop their harassment of civilian settlements in Israel,” he said. So, he’s blamed both sides for the conflict and asked both to stop.
This is a far cry from his position a few years ago. In the past, Erdogan has openly favoured Palestinians. But over time, his relations with Israel have improved and evidently, he doesn’t want to jeopardise that. So, he’s taken a balanced approach. His administration is also trying to be useful to its Western allies. “We have received requests from various countries, especially on the issue of their citizens being released. As a result of these, we have launched talks on these issues especially with Hamas’s political wing. Our efforts are continuing especially for the release of foreigners, civilians and children,” says Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan.
Fidan has been on a diplomatic shuttle since the Israel-Hamas war began, going from one country to the next, securing Turkiye’s interests. He also mentioned a very important part of those interests – contacts with Hamas’s political wing. You see, Turkiye has always favoured the group. Senior Hamas members have made a home in Turkiye. Like the chairperson of the Hamas political wing, Ismail Haniyeh, whose children reportedly have Turkish passports, as do other senior Hamas members.
Haniyeh divides his time between Turkiye and Qatar. He has a base in both countries. Currently, he’s in Qatar. Reports say, the Turkish establishment asked him to leave for a while. Other senior Hamas leaders were politely asked to leave too. Erdogan apparently did not want the bad publicity and their presence was problematic for the would-be mediator.
The forced concession
Now, Turkiye has denied all these reports, but perhaps the damage has already been done. So far, four hostages have been released by Hamas and it seems Qatar and Egypt are at the forefront of those talks. Turkiye is lagging behind in its efforts.
That’s not the only bad news for Erdogan. Reports say Ankara is also facing the heat from its Western allies. They want Turkiye to sever ties with Hamas and that’s something Erdogan is unlikely to do. So instead, he’s looking to placate the West. This week, Turkiye offered its fellow NATO members an olive branch. Erdogan set in motion, the process to induct Sweden to make it a NATO member. “We welcome that step. Obviously we have been calling for ratification of Sweden’s accession for some time and we look forward to that bill being considered in the Turkish parliament and passed as soon as possible,” responded U.S. state department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
Sweden has been wanting to join NATO since last year but Erdogan was the roadblock. It seems he’s finally relented in an effort to calm his Western allies. As we said, Ankara has been walking a tightrope. It’s what you get when you try to run with the hares and hunt with the hounds.
Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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