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Middle East conflict

Turkey's position on Palestine will not affect relations within NATO — expert

According to Boris Dolgov's forecasts, Ankara will not take drastic steps aimed at escalating the tensions in the Middle East

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/. The Turkish leadership’s position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will not affect relations within NATO or result in Ankara's withdrawal from the alliance, Boris Dolgov, a leading researcher at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies of the Institute of Asian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has told TASS.

He pointed to the great divergence of views on Palestine between Turkey and its NATO allies. "I don't think that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will go as far as any confrontation with NATO and the United States as the bloc's leader. Turkey does not oppose NATO. It acts within the framework of the alliance's policy. Therefore, there will be no cardinal changes within NATO, within the relations between Turkey and the West," Dolgov said.

According to his forecasts, Ankara will not take drastic steps aimed at escalating the tensions in the Middle East.

"Turkey will provide Palestine with diplomatic, political and possibly humanitarian support. But there will be no participation of Turkish armed forces on the side of Hamas," the analyst added.

He pointed to the ambitions of the Turkish leadership to act as the leader of the Arab-Muslim world in confrontation with Israel and to use the current situation to promote its interests. However, the expert noted that Turkey was actively contesting the role of mediator and peacemaker and seeking to strengthen its position in this very status by all means.

"Erdogan is now offering Turkey’s services of a go-between in ending hostilities, along with criticizing Israel's actions. Therefore, Turkey is trying to act as a mediator, but on the mandatory condition the interests of the Palestinian side will be observed," the expert explained.

On October 28, at a rally in support of Palestine, Erdogan said the West was responsible for the bloodshed in Gaza, calling it a massacre.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its operation as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel has declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and carried out air strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as some areas of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also underway in the West Bank. On October 27, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari announced the "expansion of the scale" of the ground military operation in Gaza.

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