The negative approach by Hamas to US-led efforts aimed at reviving the Middle East peace process — and the group’s categorical rejection of the Arab League’s “land swap” proposal for peace — has placed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a difficult situation. As a committed Islamist, Erdogan’s natural impulse is to sympathize with Hamas and its leader, Khaled Meshaal, who is also part of the international Muslim Brotherhood network that Turkish political Islamists feel an affinity toward.

Erdogan has not hidden his personal admiration for Meshaal either. This was apparent when Meshaal was one of the few dignitaries invited by Erdogan as a guest of honor to his ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) convention in Ankara in September 2012. Meshaal received a standing ovation when he arrived at the convention hall, with delegates later vying for a handshake and a picture with the Hamas leader.

The annoyance these images caused was not only felt in Washington or in Israel, however. President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority (PA) was also reported to be less than happy over the manner in which Turkey was providing crucial political support to rival Hamas. Back in Gaza, however, the accolade their leader received in the capital city of a regional power whose star is on the rise, as well as the political support from a key international figure like Erdogan, was met with great satisfaction.

Erdogan is nevertheless finding that circumstance is forcing him to overcome purely Islamist sympathies and work more and more through the PA, and President Mahmoud Abbas which, it seems, is not all that pleasing to Hamas. But it is becoming increasingly clear to officials in Ankara that, if Turkey wants to have a constructive role in the Middle East, this is the course to be pursued, given Abbas’ international recognition and Meshaal’s lack of it.