Erdoğan Leverages Gaza Crisis to Boost Turkey's Regional Standing
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Turkey under Erdoğan has taken a very strong stance against Israel's actions in Gaza, calling it "war crimes" and criticizing the West for supporting Israel.
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Erdoğan sees the conflict as a "civilizational rift" between Islam and the West and wants Turkey to lead the Islamic world in opposing Israel.
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Domestically, the Palestinian cause is very popular in Turkey and aligns with Erdoğan's neo-Ottoman ambitions to regain influence in the region.
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Turkey's pro-Hamas stance has complicated its relations with Israel and the U.S. but aligned it more with the Global South.
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The U.S. needs to find a way to constructively engage Turkey on the Israeli-Palestinian issue to prevent further turmoil in the relationship.