Turkey was among the first countries to react strongly to the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniya, while the Arab world has so far remained cautious.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs first condemned the murder characterizing it as a heinous act that reveals once again that the Netanyahu government does not intend to achieve peace, but to spread the Gaza war in the region. “If the international community does not take action to stop Israel, our region will face much greater conflicts” emphasizes the announcement, while Hakan Fidan himself expressed the “deeply saddened by the death as a martyr of Ismail Haniya, who was a symbol of the Palestinian resistance”. This was followed by statements by the Speaker of the Turkish National Assembly, Numan Kurtulmus, where he referred to Islam and said that because of his steadfast faith, Allah rewarded Haniya by making him a martyr. While the party representative, Omer Celikemphasized that “the Palestinian cause is not a movement that can be stopped by murder. The events that will occur will not be limited to the region, but will come to the door of the West.”

President Erdogan made statements relatively slowly, but in high tones. He unequivocally condemned the treacherous assassination of the head of the Hamas Politburo in Tehran, calling it “despicable action aimed at the Palestinian cause, the glorious resistance of Gaza and the righteous struggle of our Palestinian brothers, as well as to discourage and intimidate the Palestinians”. However, he added, “Zionist barbarism will not be able to achieve its goals, as it has done until now. With the strongest stance of the Islamic world and the alliance of humanity, the terror that Israel sows in our geography, especially in Syria, will surely end and our region and the world will find peace.”

The Turkish president’s reference to the peace effort to normalize Turkey-Syria relations is of particular importance. Ankara, projecting itself as the main defender of the Palestinians and Hamas but also as Israel’s most implacable enemy, now sees that the loss of Haniya and the demonization of Israel could easily upset the delicate balances in the region and damage any peace efforts it has initiated.

Response from Istanbul