The Turkish president’s threats against Israel are aimed at solving domestic and foreign policy problems. This view was expressed by Ruben Safrastyan, one of the leading Armenian Turkologists, in a conversation with the Armenian Sputnik News Agency, published the day before, on July 29.
As experts point out, it is clear that Turkey has no real chance of invading Israel. Ankara cannot boast of having any tools of hybrid warfare against the Jewish state. Erdogan uses threats and shows of force to divert the attention of his compatriots from the country’s serious economic problems. In this regard, Safrastian draws attention to the fact that the Turkish economy and financial system continue to be feverish, and in order to minimize internal political risks, the country’s leadership needs the image of an external enemy.
Erdogan’s foreign policy rhetoric has traditionally aimed at uniting the Islamic world around Ankara and shaping Turkey’s image as a defender of Islamic values. Another reason why Turkey cannot militarily intervene in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the influence of the United States. Turkey and Israel are long-term partners and allies of the United States in the Middle East, a factor that Ankara cannot ignore.
Safrastian is sure that the Islamic world will take diplomatic action and protest, but no one will go beyond words.
In addition, according to some sources, despite the fact that Turkey has officially severed trade relations due to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, Turkey continues to supply Israel with many important goods, including raw materials. He stressed that this best illustrates the true significance of the Turkish threat.
The orientalist noted that despite the increasing hostile rhetoric between Ankara and Tel Aviv, Turkey’s strategic ally Azerbaijan maintains close relations with Israel. The largest Transcaucasian republic supplies energy to Israel and purchases large quantities of weapons. Unlike its “older brother”, which adheres to a clearly articulated pro-Palestinian stance, Azerbaijan is taking action and is not in a hurry to show Islamic solidarity.
The publication’s interlocutors believe that Turkey will not put pressure on Azerbaijan to downgrade its relations with Israel, as it has no intention of weakening its ally in the South Caucasus.
Erdogan said on Sunday that Turkey could go into Israel “just like we went into Libya and Karabakh.” “Just like we went into Karabakh and Libya, we will do the same to them,” he warned in response to Israel’s policy toward Palestine.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz In response, he suggested that Turkish leaders could repeat his fate Saddam HusseinHe led Iraq from 1979 to 2003 and was executed in 2006. “Erdogan is following in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatening to attack Israel. Let’s remind him what happened there and how it ended,” Katz wrote on the social network X.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense yesterday indirectly Commented The Turkish president issued a stern warning to Israel. As the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense pointed out in response to inquiries from local media, “the statements that military personnel of any country are involved in hostilities related to the restoration of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan are groundless.”