GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The deadly raid by the Israeli navy on May 31, 2010, against the Mavi Marmara marked the beginning of a push by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to support an end to the Israeli blockade against the Gaza Strip. His stance led to a widespread belief among Gazans that their savior might arrive in the form of a Turkish man. Soon after, "Turkmania" swept the Gazan street. To this day, Palestinians in Gaza remain captivated by Turkish culture.
Relations between the Turkish and Palestinian peoples go back centuries, with Palestine for a time being part of the Ottoman rule. According to Hani Agha, director of the Turkish Yardim Eli (Helping Hand) Foundation, which is active in Gaza, relations were reinvigorated by Erdogan's public stance on Israeli policy toward Gaza, when the prime minister put Israeli President Shimon Peres in an awkward position at the Davos economic summit in January 2009, accusing him of killing Palestinian children in Gaza. Erdogan's popularity skyrocketed among Gazans, some of whom named newborns after him.
Agha told Al-Monitor, "Since that incident, Gazans felt that Turkey — both the government and the people — was concerned [about Palestine] in a way that differs from the Arab states, which are only good at making statements. But the incident involving the Mavi Marmara flotilla, which [tried] to break the Israeli siege on Gaza in May 2010, constituted the real beginning of the Turkish 'opening.' Following the raid, the Turkish government began widespread development and relief work in Gaza."
Among the most prominent such efforts is the Al-Ikhwa project, which tries to foster social and spiritual integration between Palestinians in Gaza and Turks. As Agha described it, "This project is based on establishing a partnership between a family in Turkey and another in Gaza, within the framework of the 'brother families' project. The two families exchange family photos and get to know each other via phone calls, with the help of an interpreter. They exchange gifts and letters on special occasions and holidays."
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