As Hamas seems to be more isolated than ever after the removal of the Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in Egypt by the military, the Palestinian Islamist movement is attempting to forge a new diplomatic strategy that would help elevate its credibility in the international scene. One of the very few governments in the region that still approves of Hamas government in Gaza is the Turkish government led by the Justice and Development Party AKP. The Turkish Prime Minister had made it clear on different occasions that Hamas was a vital entity for achieving a solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Hamas's leader, Khalid Mashaal, visited Turkey three times since September 2012; the last of those visits was in October 2013, few months after the overthrow of Morsi. Israeli officials took every chance to express their discontent with those visits and pointing fingers to the Turkish government's welcoming arms of "radicals and extremists". "Having such a high-level meeting says more about the people hosting them [Hamas] than anything else, "one Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post back in October commenting on Mashaal's visit to Turkey. Gaza government led, by Hamas, was one of the first to congratulate Erdogan and his party on their sweeping win of the March 31 local elections. The Hamas movement called for a rallies in various parts of Gaza city in order to celebrate the Erdogan's win. According to reports from Gaza, thousands participated in the rally and some were giving out sweets to express their joy. "The winning of Erdogan's AKP came in a time while political Islam in the Arab region is falling down," Hazem Balousha, Gaza based Palestinian Journalist whose work appeared on The Guardian and Al-Monitor among others, told the Islamist Gate. "So the feeling that it is not the end but the hope still there to save the Islamic movements and parties of being cracked down." The celebration seems to have gone further than political parties and movements. One Gazan businessman reportedly named a new perfume after the Turkish premier. The perfume's bottle had Erdogan's picture as its main distinctive feature. "Gazans love Erdogan very much, because Erdogan is interested in Palestine's cause and has stood against the embargo on Gaza for the past eight years," Halid Mirac was quoted by Turkish Anadolu Agency. Hamas considers Erdogan as a hero, he is one of its rare supporters, Balousa said, and the international community accepts him. "Turkey is member of NATO, and supporting Hamas, he is opening gates to Hamas, helping Hamas mainly politically, at some level some Hamas members and leaders believe that Erdogan has Brotherhood background." He added. Many speculate that Turkey and Israel are on the verge of reviving the diplomatic standoff between the two countries caused by the Israeli forces attack on the Gaza aid flotilla back in May 2010. The Turkish Marmara Flotilla was boarded by Turkish and foreign activists who were looking to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip that was and still under an Israeli forced blockade. Israeli forces boarded the ship and killed nine people including 8 Turkish citizens. Turkey has been demanding an apology from the Israeli government, which it got last April, and a hefty compensation for the families of the victims. The Turkish government had also publically demanded the full end of the Israeli blockade on Gaza as one of the conditions to renew the ties with Israel. However, as reports of an agreement between the two countries surface, the request seems to be more of a political stunt rather than a concrete condition. Turkey's role in helping and supporting Hamas doesn't seem to compete with that of some Arab Gulf states, such as Qatar, according to Balousha. "Turkey's support started mainly since Marmara flotilla and it made a great change on the ground in Gaza as Israel started to ease the blockade that imposed once Hamas arrived to power. Financially in comparison with Iran and Qatar, Turkey is not doing that much. Some projects here and there, funding some local and humanitarian projects such as power plant, building up a hospital and doing some charity work." Yet Turkey, according to Balousha, provides Hamas with unique kind of support, political training and European ears. "Turkey helped Hamas with admin training, political talk with Europeans in order to open the talk ahead of removing Hamas from terror list which would be the greatest help that others are not able to do for Hamas but Turkey." Balousha mentioned in his recent piece for Al-Monitor that Hamas officials have made frequent visits to Turkey in order to enhance their diplomatic capabilities and learn politics from one of the oldest democracies in the Middle East. However, those visits are no longer possible since the new military-backed government in Egypt denies Hamas officials permission to travel through the Rafah crossing. As many in Hamas see Turkey as a way out of a severe isolation, many Palestinians and Turks question how much Turkey's controversial support of Hamas is in fact helpful to the Palestinian cause. "The Turkish PM has increasingly demonstrated that he does not support working as a moderator between Israel and Palestine, but only contributes to the continuation of a prolonged conflict," says Louis Fishman, assistant professor at Brooklyn College and a expert in Turkish, Israeli/Palestinian, Mid-East affairs. "This is unfortunate since in 2011, he was in a key position to promote general understanding in the region, yet he chose polarization." According to Fishman, Erdogan's policy towards Hamas and Gaza didn't reflect an understanding of the political scene in the region and especially in Egypt. "This indeed paralleled changes in the region, as Egypt challenged Mubarak's rule and his continued harsh policies with the Hamas-led Gaza strip, he [Erdogan] was correct in supporting the lifting of the blockade. However, following the coup, when Morsi was removed, Erdogan's continued blatant support for Hamas only hamper attempts to put forth the Palestinian case in the world."
