Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 14
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's two-day visit to Turkey is one of the important moments in the diplomatic history of Palestine.
The visit of Abbas to Ankara was made after the Hamas Islamic Resistance Movement Political Bureau head Khaled Meshaal's visit to Turkey. The visit is remembered due to Meshaal's words that if Turkey is strong, Palestine is also strong.
After Meshaal's repeated visits to Turkey, the US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said that Washington is concerned about Turkey's contacts with the Hamas movement. His statement said that the US considers Hamas a terrorist organization.
But Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Hamas is not a terrorist organization and it did not commit any terrorist acts.
As for Abbas's visit to Turkey, the first one this year, he visited Ankara several times in 2014. Following these visits, Palestine's diplomacy started to become visibly active.
One of the important points in the Palestinian diplomacy was the creation of a new national unity government, which for the first time since 2007 included representatives of Fatah and Hamas, who reached agreement after years of irreconcilable rivalry.
Aside from that, in 2014, a number of European countries recognized Palestine as an independent state within the borders of 1967.
It should be noted that exactly the Palestine issue is a green light for the leadership in the Islamic world. Iran has used this "card" for many years, supporting the Palestinian resistance led by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
Iran's support for the Palestinian resistance, as strange as it may sound, has always faced some kind of hindrance. The hindrance was that the majority of Palestinians are Sunni Muslims, while Iran is a Shiite country.
But today everything is different. When observing the developments in the region, Iran has "stepped aside" in the issue of Palestine and supporting the resistance.
The developments in Syria, that is, the stance of Hamas with regard to the government of Syria, are a turning point in the "historical" relations between the parties.
In 2011 the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal left Damascus which is considered as part of the Islamic resistance against Israeli aggression.
Following this, the organization's leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh said that Hamas supports Syrian opposition in fighting against the government.
After such remarks, Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, demanded the withdrawal of paramilitary units of Hamas from the country's territory.
Against the backdrop of the Syrian crisis, Haniyeh's remarks could be regarded as the beginning of the end of the organization if not for Turkey's support, which has no barriers, contrary to that of Iran.
Namely with the support of Turkey, the Palestinian issue took a new political turn. However, it doesn't mean that Iran has absolutely lost its role in supporting the Palestinian resistance.
Rather that Turkey, which has experience in benefiting from political situations, succeeded to pull Palestine out of Iranian embrace which can lead to serious political problems for Israel.
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Rufiz Hafizoglu is the head of Trend Agency's Arabic news service, follow him on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
