Question:
Is Turkey firm on its position towards the Palestinian and Egyptian case or will it break over time and the many pressures?
Answer:
Turkey is in a strong position. Especially after the recent elections, the AKP is solid.
Erdogan is a brilliant politician, and his party’s leadership are all extremely adept political players, in my opinion. I do not foresee Turkey being successfully pressured to weaken its stance on these issues.
There is tremendous popular support for the Palestinian issue across the entire political spectrum in Turkey, and Erdogan’s stance against the coup is not only a moral one, it is important for Turkey’s geopolitical strategy, not to mention the credibility of the AKP in the broader Muslim world.
There is a long-standing competition for influence between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and Turkey’s position on Egypt reflects this. In many ways, Saudi Arabia is more of a foreign influence in Egypt than Turkey. The Ottoman history is hard to erase from Egypt’s collective consciousness, and harder to erase from Turkey’s.