Turkey wary of Israeli threat following airstrike on Hamas in Qatar
ISTANBUL (AP) – A Israeli strike At the meeting of Hamas officials in Qatar, he created an increasing cloud of concern that it could be the next target throughout Türkiye.
Turkish Defense Ministry spokesman back Adm Zeki Akturk warned that in Ankara, Israel’s Israel will “further expand its reckless attacks as in Qatar, and drag the entire region to disaster, including its own country”.
Israel and Türkiye were once strong regional partners, but the ties between countries have faced difficulties since the late 2000s and reached the lowest level of all time. War in Gaza The attack led by Hamas on October 7, 2023 is in Southern Israel. Tensions have increased as well as two countries competed for effect The neighboring Syria has been in Syria since the fall of the Bashar Assad government last year.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long been supporter of the Palestinian case and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Turkish President has accused Israel and especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the genocide since the beginning of the Gaza War, and criticized Netanyahu by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Hamas officials regularly visit Türkiye and some live there. Israel has previously accused Türkiye of allowing Hamas to plan an attack from the territory of Hamas, and accusing recruitment and donation collection.
Erdogan is close to Qatar leaders and Türkiye maintains strong military and commercial ties with Emirate. He will travel to Qatar this weekend for the summit of Arab and Muslim leaders.
After the attacks on the territory of Iran, Syria, Yemen and Qatar, Israel needs to worry about the ability of neighboring states to use the airspace of neighboring states.
“Israel’s ability to strike unpunished strikes, usually jumps regional air defenses and international norms,” he said.
Türkiye sees these attacks as a lar a wider Israeli strategy to establish a fragmented buffer zone of weak or calmed situations around it ”.
Türkiye has superior military power
While attacking Qatar by passing an unprecedented line, a close American ally serving as an intermediary Gaza Fire Fire ContractsIsrael also raised the question of how far he will go to Hamas goals.
Thanks to the NATO membership, Türkiye seems to have a greater protection against the Israeli attack than the US with its close ties to Qatar.
Türkiye also boast of the Gulf State with a significant larger military power, the armed forces are the second size of the US among the NATO countries and an advanced defense industry.
Türkiye increased its defenses as tensions increased. Erdogan during Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June Increase in missile production. Türkiye’s officially opened last month “Steel Dome” Integrated air defense system, Kaan Fifth Generation Warrior projects such as projects were watched quickly.
Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, the German Marshall Fund in Ankara, said that an Israeli air strike in the region of a NATO member would be “extremely possible ,, but by Israeli agents, small -scale bombs or weapons attacks for potential HAMAS targets in Türkiye may be a different possibility.
Meanwhile, Cubukcuoglu said that the Qatar attack can harden Ankara’s support to Hamas.
“This is echoing with Turkish concerns that Israel can expand such operations to Turkish territory,” he said. “While the Turkish government calculates that leaving Hamas will now weaken its regional impact, standing supports the role of Palestinian causes of Israeli aggression as a defensive.”
Tensions can play in Syria
Attention focuses on the tensions surrounding the war in Gaza and the relations of Türkiye with Hamas, while Unluhisarcikli warned that it may be a greater danger in Syria, which he described as a “collision course”, which he describes Israel and Türkiye.
“It is a desire to go too far to target Turkish troops or Turkish allies or deputies in Syria,” he said.
Since Syrian rebels Unrented Assad In December, the increasing tensions between Türkiye and Israel played there. Ankara supported the new temporary government and tried to expand its influence, including the military area.
Israel sees the new government with suspicion. There is A buffer zone without a patrol seized Hundreds of air strikes in Syrian military facilities in Southern Syria and positioned itself DRUZE Religious Minority Protector First of all, against the Sunni Muslim officials in Damascus.
Tensions can also be poured into the wider Eastern Mediterranean, Israel is potentially approaching Greece and Greek Cypriots to challenge Türkiye’s military presence in the north.
Türkiye mixes the deterrence and diplomacy
Türkiye seems to be a mixture of military deterrence and diplomacy, which aims to neutralize tensions in Syria to prevent a direct conflict with Israel.
Turkish and Israeli officials held talks in April Create a “upgrade mechanism” In Syria. The movement followed the attacks on the Syrian air base, which Israel claims to be used by Türkiye. Netanyahu said that then the Turkish bases in Syria would be “a danger for Israel”.
Ankara and Damascus signed an agreement about Turkey last month. Military Training and Recommendation Syria’s armed forces.
Erdogan may also hope to get a harsh line against Washington’s Israeli military attacks.
Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump asks for support in the confrontation with Türkiye, instead of “seizing Syria” and instead of Trump to Erdogan. He called Netanyahu to be “reasonable” Türkiye’s relations with.
However, as the strike in Qatar shows, having strong relations with Washington is not necessarily a protection against Israel.
Unluhisarcikli, the Qatar attack showed that “what the Israeli government can do is that there is no limit”.
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Sewell contributed from Beirut.
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