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Source: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-east-watch/why-turkey-cannot-be-trusted-in-gaza
Why Turkey Cannot Be Trusted in Gaza
(National Interest) Blaise Misztal and Jonah Brody - Turkey's past support for Hamas should exclude it, permanently, from any role in securing Gaza; and, so long as Turkey sides with a terrorist organization over its allies, it can have no role there whatsoever. For nearly two decades, Turkey has hosted Hamas leaders, pledged hundreds of millions in funding, and allowed front companies tied to the group to manage much of its $500 million in overseas assets. Many of these networks still operate freely as Turkey refuses to join its U.S. and European allies in designating Hamas a terrorist group. Since Hamas's brutal Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Turkish President Erdogan has been the group's loudest defender and Israel's most vehement critic. Turkey has refused to condemn the Oct. 7 massacre. Erdogan has called Hamas militants "freedom fighters" and accused Israel of "surpassing Hitler in barbarism." Erdogan hopes to transform Gaza in his own image - Islamist-ruled and an Ankara client. To that end, he wants to deploy Turkish troops in a stabilization force and act as a "guarantor" for Palestinians. To this, the U.S. cannot and should not acquiesce. Any Turkish military involvement in Gaza would sabotage the peace plan's central aim: disarming Hamas. Any Turkish role would give Ankara leverage to obstruct disarmament. A country that views Hamas as a resistance movement cannot be trusted to dismantle it. Blaise Misztal is vice president for policy at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), where Jonah Brody is a policy analyst.