"Since the AKP took office in November 2002, the party's pro-Hamas
rhetoric and conduct — including successive visits to Turkey by Hamas
officials, as well as government-sponsored Hamas fundraisers and
gatherings — have for the first time brought Hamas' rhetoric to Turkey,"
Cagaptay said.
Cagaptay said Ankara's adoption of Hamas has sparked a severe decline in
relations with Israel. He said the policy has also resulted in massive
anti-Israel and pro-Hamas demonstrations in Turkey.
"Consequently, pro-Hamas Web sites are proliferating in Turkey.
Traditional Turkish sympathy for the Palestinians is turning into sympathy
for Hamas," Cagaptay said.
A recent poll by the British Broadcasting Corp. reported that 23 percent
of Turks regard Israel as a threat. Only two percent have retained a
favorable view of the Jewish state.
"The AKP, a party with an Islamist pedigree came to power in Turkey,
promoting its vision of a political Muslim world and suggesting that Turkey
and the Turks belong to this singular religio-political world," Cagaptay
said. "It is the power of this Manichean trajectory which explains the
Turks' changing foreign policy and their new relationship with Israel and
Hamas."
Cagaptay said AKP intends to sever Turkey's relations with Israel,
particularly in the area of defense and military. He cited the Turkish
cancellation of Israel's participation in the annual Anatolian Eagle combat
air exercise in October 2009.
"The AKP's cancellation of military exercises with Israel is the
beginning of the end of Turkish-Israeli ties," Cagaptay said. "What is more,
the AKP's cancellation of Israeli participation in the Anatolian Eagle
exercise because of its evaluation of Israel's behavior toward Hamas
demonstrates that the AKP sees Turkey as responsible for defending Hamas'
agenda as opposed to Israel's."
Cagaptay said Turkey was also adopting such Islamist regimes as that led
by President Omar Bashir in Sudan. The analysis said Erdogan, arguing that a
Muslim was incapable of atrocities, has ignored United Nations reports of
mass killings by the Bashir regime.
"The AKP's behavior towards Israel and Sudan shows that the party views
Israel through a new, Islamist prism," Cagaptay said. "Muslims who are
always right even when they kill their own kind vs. non-Muslims who are
always wrong when they confront Muslims even when acting in self-defense."