Turkey Defers to Egypt

RUSI Analysis (Royal United Services Institute) 23 Nov 2012

by Aaron Stein * in Istanbul

Turkey’s grander regional ambitions have been thwarted by its alienation of important regional players. Now a more inward looking Turkey has adopted a supporting role as Erdogan positions himself for a run at the Turkish presidency.

With a tenuous cease-fire in place between Israel and Palestine, and Turkey turning back to domestic issues, what should we make of Ankara’s handling of the latest Israeli-Palestinian crisis? The timing and tone of Ankara’s strong condemnations of the Israeli attacks, while predictable, suggested that the country has ceded control of the Palestinian issue to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. Cognisant of Ankara’s minimal influence, and the political ramifications of engaging with Israel, the Turkish Prime Minister used the crisis to stoke popular domestic sentiments by condemning Israeli actions in Gaza. This appears to be aimed at strengthening his domestic political base for an expected run for the presidency in 2014.

* Aaron Stein is an Istanbul based PhD candidate at King’s College, London and a researcher specialising in nonproliferation at the Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM).

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