Earlier this week, Turkey commemorated the deaths of the “martyrs” who were killed by the IDF five years ago during an attempt to break the blockade of Gaza. Meanwhile, the Turkish government has delivered less than 1 percent of the funds it pledged last year for the reconstruction of Gaza. Burak Bekdil writes:
By discreetly encouraging the flotilla, and possibly calculating its aftermath, the Turkish government aimed at two things: boosting then-prime minister (now president) Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s popularity on the Arab street and consolidating his votes among Turkey’s conservative masses. The first aim has dramatically failed, except in the Palestinian territories and Qatar; but the second has been achieved. . . .
One day, perhaps, the Palestinians will understand that their “cause” is, for their Turkish brothers, merely an ideological feel-good motive and an instrument in a quest . . . to consolidate power both at home and in the Arab world. . . . Underneath its “pro-Palestinian” mindset, Turkish solidarity with the Palestinians is less related to the Palestinian cause and more to [Turkish] Islamists’ devotion to the dream of conquest.
Read more on Gatestone: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5884/turkey-flotilla