Can Erdogan seize on Israeli-Palestinian crisis to make diplomatic gains?
The flurry of diplomacy over the Israeli-Palestinian escalation has helped Erdogan break his diplomatic isolation, but he could hardly hope for far-reaching gains to help his bid at fence-mending with Arab heavyweights.
The new Israeli-Palestinian flare-up, bursting out right in the midst of Turkey’s quest to mend ties with Israel and Arab rivals, has opened up space for Ankara to seek diplomatic influence in the region. But any gains it could make in the process are likely to be limited now that it has lost much of its leverage vis-a-vis Arab heavyweights and Israel.
The efficiency of Ankara’s diplomacy on the Palestinian question is open to argument, but the escalation in the Holy Land did help it break its diplomatic isolation to some extent.
