Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been one of the most outspoken anti-Israel voices in the world since the October 7 massacre. Not only did Ankara not condemn the terrorist attack, it has been openly hosting and backing Hamas.
This is not new for Turkey, which has long backed Hamas. But now, however, Erdogan is moving forward with a number of initiatives designed to rally Muslim countries against Israel.
The Islamic offensive that Ankara is undertaking is part of a broader goal to be seen as a world leader for Islamic issues. For instance, Turkey has sought to embrace other “Islamic” causes. It has incited against France and other European countries over issues it considers linked to “Islamophobia.” It has sought to work more closely with Malaysia, Pakistan, and other Muslim countries.
Ankara has also pursued more outreach to Iran. This is all part of a goal to position Turkey as a leader in this realm, supplanting the role that Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states have played historically. In essence, one could argue that this is Turkey seeking to return to the role the Ottoman Empire once played in Islamic global affairs up until the end of World War I.
Erdogan has sought to rally the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to convene an extraordinary leaders’ summit to bash Israel. This is raising eyebrows around the region.
Iranian state media has also reported on this initiative, illustrating that Tehran might be excited by the prospect of working with Ankara against Israel. Turkey is seeking “to discuss the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and find ways to prevent the genocide of Palestinians in the blockaded territory,” Iran’s government-controlled Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Turkey and Iran forge new alliances
Earlier this week, Erdogan said it “is urgent that [the OIC] convenes at the leadership level without delay and that the Islamic world demonstrates its firm stance… Let’s accelerate our efforts to force the Islamic world to take more action to prevent the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel.”
It is important to understand that Ankara is doing this during a unique time in the region. Turkey has recently sought to reconcile with Egypt. Iran has also been reaching out to Egypt. In addition, Iran has sought reconciliation with Saudi Arabia in a deal brokered last year by China.
All of these moves show that these countries are all moving toward working together. This leaves Israel out in the cold. In 2020, when the Abraham Accords took place, things were different. The region was recovering from ISIS, but it was very divided. Turkey under Erdogan has long backed the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt’s leaders view as a terrorist group. Iran was at odds with Saudi Arabia, which was fighting the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Now, all that has changed. Iran is back in the good graces of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey. These countries may have some differences, but they want to work together to solve their problems.
In Syria, for instance, Iran and Russia have backed the regime, and Turkey backed the Syrian rebels. Now, Turkey is ready to ditch the remnants of the rebellion and make a deal with the Assad regime.
Turkey and Iran see this year as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rally the world against Israel. They are exploiting the October 7 massacre to try to bring together countries and proxy groups. Tehran is doing the heavy lifting by pushing its proxies to attack Israel. While Iran does the attacking, Turkey works on diplomatic and “Islamic” initiatives.
Meanwhile, Turkey is also angling to attend the next Arab League ministerial meeting. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is traveling to Cairo for the 162nd Ordinary Council of Foreign Ministers of the Arab League, which begins this week.
Turkey will use the Arab League and the OIC to push for a united front against Israel. In doing so, it is possible that Ankara will be able to take the lead for several countries where there has been a vacuum in leadership over the last decade. Ankara has tried to do this before, including in 2018, when the US moved its embassy to Jerusalem.
Ankara is now trying to focus attention on the Temple Mount and is claiming that Israel is threatening the Aqsa Mosque compound with its recent moves. “It is unthinkable that the OIC, whose duty is to defend the cause of al-Quds, would remain indifferent to these attacks,” Erdogan said this week.