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by Burak Bekdil
• December 6, 2014 at 5:00 am
Erdogan
deliberately overlooked a significant difference between Hamas and Turkey's
Islamist parties: Hamas specifically advocates violence, while Turkish
parties operate within democratic politics.
Hamas
is coordinating its efforts in the West Bank with logistical support from a
command center in Istanbul.
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Turkish President (then Prime Minister) Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, right, meeting with Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal (center) and
Ismail Haniyeh on June 18, 2013, in Ankara, Turkey. (Image source: Turkey
Prime Minister's Press Office)
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In 2004, Turkish President (then Prime Minister) Recep Tayyip Erdogan
labelled Israel "a terrorist state." Two years later, he hosted
Khaled Mashaal, Hamas's leader. Alluding to Turkey's experience with
Islamist parties, including his own, coming to power through elections,
Erdogan said: "The choice of the people (at the ballot box) should be
respected." Erdogan, citing Hamas's election victory in Gaza, apparently
wanted to legitimize Hamas and terrorism.
However, he deliberately overlooked a significant difference between
Hamas and Turkey's Islamist parties: Hamas specifically advocates violence,
while Turkish parties operate within democratic politics.
Eight years after Mashaal's visit to Turkey, Hamas is coordinating its
efforts in the West Bank with logistical support from a command center in
Istanbul -- a fact that apparently annoys even the Palestinian Authority
[PA], Hamas's "governing partner" in the Palestinian territories.
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