Turkey is changing its face because of the US administration: “It is too early to talk about Israel here”

Turkey is trying to re-introduce itself, either through mediation or in an attempt to rehabilitate its image. Against the background of concerns about the new American administration, Turkey is taking steps that appear to be a change of trend in its foreign policy. However, as said Dr Chai Eitan Cohen Yanrojaka researcher from the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University told “Maariv” today (Wednesday), it is mainly an attempt to maneuver in the face of the new challenges.

“It is very early to talk about rapprochement with Israel,” states Dr. Cohen Janrojak. “I think that she is currently trying to minimize damage in front of the Trump administration. They are quite surprised and shocked, one might say, by the significant appointments of the new administration. We see a lot of very pro-Israeli names.”

The Turkish attempt to act as a mediator between Israel and Hamas is a clear example of the new strategy: “They want to show this role of mediation to the United States, in order not to continue maintaining relations with Hamas,” the researcher explains. “They want to avoid receiving some kind of American punishment for having close relations with Hamas. I think it’s some kind of creative way to actually escape from things.”

Replacing Qatar in the role of mediator is not accidental. “The Qataris are apparently very cautious and one could even say they are afraid of Donald Trump,” notes Dr. Cohen Yanrojak. “And probably in order not to be affected economically, they probably came to the idea that they do not want to be used as mediators.” After a visit by the Qatari leader In Ankara, understandings were reached according to which “Qatar will lower its profile vis-à-vis the United States and the Turks will fill this void.”

Another significant step was the extradition of the suspects in the Rabbi’s murder Zvi Kogan in Dubai. “Turkey cooperates with the United Arab Emirates. They simply do not want to cause any image damage,” explains the researcher. “All the terrorists do what they do, and then flee to Turkey as if it were a protected area there. Therefore, as soon as Turkey received the identities of these terrorists from the United Arab Emirates, then they laid hands on these terrorists and brought them back, in order to restore Turkey’s image.”

The Turkish move is broader than the Middle Eastern arena, he explained. “Not only in the Israeli Hamas arena, but probably Turkey will also present itself as the ultimate mediator for the United States, also in the Ukraine war,” says Dr. Cohen Yanrojak. Turkey’s advantage is that it is “the only country where both the Ukrainians and the Russians are willing to talk.” with her, since she “maintains very close relations with the Russians, and also with the Ukrainians”.

The message to the Trump administration is clear: “It’s true that Trump said he wants to end all wars, so Erdogan is trying to send him a message that if you want to implement your request to end all wars, then you actually won’t be able to find a much fairer, much more influential mediator than Turkey”.