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Gaza crisis overshadows soured US-Turkey relations

The Gaza crisis may have overshadowed the stumble in Turkish-US relations, but cannot long conceal the deep divisions in this troubled alliance.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (L) during a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels April 1, 2014. NATO suspended all practical cooperation with Russia on Tuesday in protest at its annexation of Crimea and ordered military planners to draft measures to strengthen its defences and reassure nervous eastern European countries. REUTERS/Jacquelyn Martin/Pool (BELGIUM - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR3JIH0

The vitriolic exchange of words between two close allies, the United States and Turkey, may have been overshadowed by the developments in Gaza but cannot be concealed.

Disagreements had started already before the Israeli ground offensive. The Israeli military operation against Hamas only accelerated and intensified them and revealed the malaise between the two sides that goes back to pre-Gaza days.

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