Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at a rally in Istanbul, October 28, 2023 (DHA)

I joined India’s WION News on Sunday to explain why Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who had been pursuing a strategic relationship with Israel, has buried that effort because of the Israeli war with Hamas in Gaza.

Israel’s deadly attacks on civilians and the humanitarian crisis have given Erdoğan the platform for his shift — not only condemning the Netanyahu Government as “terrorist” but also calling Hamas a “liberation movement” after its mass murder of Israeli civilians and foreign nationals.

See also World Unfiltered: Turkey and Israel — Best Friends in the Middle East?

However, the President’s calculations lie closer to home, both in his perpetual attempt to present himself as the leader of the Muslim world and in his immediate concern over Turkey’s crumbling economy.