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Turkey on Defensive Over Hamas

Claims that Turkey is obstructing Palestinian reconciliation are fueling the AKP's belief in an international campaign to isolate Ankara politically at an already low point in its foreign relations.
Turkey's Prime Minister and leader of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Tayyip Erdogan (R) welcomes his guest Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal during the AKP congress in Ankara September 30, 2012. Erdogan trumpeted Turkey's credentials as a rising democratic power on Sunday, saying his Islamist-rooted ruling party had become an example to the Muslim world after a decade in charge. Addressing thousands of party members and regional leaders at a congress of his Justice and Development (AK) Party, Erdogan
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A story in the Israeli press claiming that Turkey is obstructing efforts to secure Palestinian reconciliation has added fresh fuel to the belief in Turkish government circles that there is an international campaign to isolate Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government diplomatically.

Turkey already plays a minimal role in efforts to bring about a negotiated settlement to the Syrian civil war because of Erdogan’s single-track Syria policy based on the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad by force. Turkey’s lack of ties with Israel and its strong support for Hamas, on the other hand, have ensured that Ankara has no role in the Middle East peace process, either.

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