Turan Research Center

Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, a Turkey expert at Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, explained that Turkey’s pursuit of a Gaza role is tied to its wider regional strategy. Yanarocak noted that Turkey’s first goal would be the preservation of Hamas. “Turkey is doing its best to ensure Hamas’s survival,” he explained. 

Yanarocak further noted that, in addition to practical considerations surrounding Hamas, Turkey also sought to elevate its status while weakening Israel diplomatically. 

“Turkey would like to gain status. For the first time in a long time, Ankara was recognized as a critical regional actor,” he explained. “Turkey wishes to position itself as a superpower backing the Palestinians in a mirror image of the U.S.’s backing of Israel. By doing this, they are elevating themselves to the level of the United States and degrading Israel to the level of Hamas.”

Furthermore, Yanarocak warned that Erdogan was interested in aggressive expansionism and that the Turks were likely to perceive a foothold in Gaza as a forward operating base against Israel, rather than as a peacekeeping operation. 

Yanarocak brought the example of Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus as a precedent for how Turkey was likely to view Gaza. “Turkey’s role as a guarantor in Cyprus later led to its military intervention in the north of the island,” Yanarocak said. “Turkey is definitely looking at Gaza similarly.”

Erdogan has already described Turkey’s military aspirations in relation to Israel. “Just like we entered Karabakh [Azerbaijan], just like we entered Libya, we might do something similar to Israel,” Erdogan said in a speech in July 2024. 

Yanarocak pointed out that Turkish forces in Gaza would put Israel on a fast track to military conflict with Turkey. “Turkey is trying to acquire a diplomatic status that will allow it to intervene in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more directly in favor of the Palestinians. And in some extreme cases, this can definitely escalate to military conflict,” he concluded.

Read the full interview on the Jewish News Syndicate.

Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak is an Adjunct Fellow at the Turan Research Center.me