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Turkey Prefers Bluster Over Balance In Dealing With Israel

Tulin Daloglu analyzes Turkey’s preference for rhetoric over diplomacy in dealing with Israel. 

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech during the opening session of the 28th session of the COMCEC in Istanbul October 10, 2012. COMCEC is the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. REUTERS/Murad Sezer (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)
Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech in Istanbul, Oct. 10, 2012. — REUTERS/Murad Sezer

ANKARA, Turkey  — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was recently received in Ankara with full honors accorded a head of state.

In his first foreign travel since the United Nations overwhelmingly voted for recognizing Palestine as a “non-member observer state,” Abu Mazen, as he is also known, was welcomed at the Turkish presidential palace on Dec. 11 with a 21-gun salute.

In its reception of President Abbas, Turkey sent another signal that it has no interest in repairing its relationship with Israel.

The trend is rather in the opposite direction, playing to the Arab Street, including the Turkish leadership’s continuing bold and feverish statements over Israeli policies.

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