Today’s fact is that Erdogan’s government has made the Palestinian cause to become a “national” issue for Turkey on the basis of “Islamic solidarity”, “universal values” and “human rights” whereas the Gaza blockade constituted no threat to Turkey’s national interests.

In this context, Turkey’s approach to Israel for the continuation of bilateral relations not only has no precedent in the world diplomatic arena, but also begs scrutiny as to whether it helps to re-energize the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis.

Turkey has sacrificed diplomacy for ideology.  It was a non-entity in the Israel-Gaza conflict and cease-fire.

In making itself a partisan rather than a regional leader, Turkey undercuts its natural strategic asset as a broker for diplomacy among Israel and the Arab countries, and degrades its relations with the US and Europe in the process.