The "elder brother" is bluffing: Israel is not Karabakh, Erdogan will not be able to "enter" — opinion

The Turkish president's threats against Israel are designed to solve both domestic and foreign policy problems. Ruben Safrastyan, one of the leading Armenian Turkologists, shared this opinion in an interview with Sputnik Armenia published the day before, on July 29.

As the expert noted, it is obvious that Turkey has no real opportunities to invade Israel. Ankara cannot boast of having any tools of a hybrid war against the Jewish state. Erdogan uses threats and demonstrations of force to divert the attention of fellow citizens from serious economic problems in the country. In this regard, Safrastyan drew attention to the fact that the economy and financial system of Turkey continues to be in a fever and in order to minimize internal political risks, the country's leadership needs an image of an external enemy.

Erdogan's foreign policy rhetoric is traditionally aimed at rallying the Islamic world around Ankara and creating an image of Turkey as a defender of Islamic values. Another reason why Turkey cannot intervene militarily in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the influence of the United States. Turkey and Israel are long—standing partners and allies of the United States in the Middle East, and Ankara cannot ignore this factor.

There will be diplomatic demarches and protests in the Islamic world, but no one will go beyond words, Safrastyan is sure.

In addition, despite the official severance of trade ties amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, Turkey, according to some reports, continues to supply a number of important goods to Israel, including raw materials. This best illustrates the real significance of the Turkish threats, he stressed.

The orientalist notes that despite the increasing hostile rhetoric between Ankara and Tel Aviv, Turkey's strategic ally, Azerbaijan, continues to maintain close relations with Israel. The largest Transcaucasian republic supplies energy to Israel and buys weapons there in large quantities. Unlike the "elder brother", who adheres to a clearly expressed pro-Palestinian position, Azerbaijan is maneuvering and in no hurry to demonstrate Islamic solidarity.

The source believes that Turkey will not exert pressure on Azerbaijan to force it to lower the level of relations with Israel, as it is not interested in weakening its ally in the South Caucasus.

Turkey can enter Israel, "just as it entered Libya and Karabakh," Erdogan said last Sunday. "Just as we entered Karabakh and Libya, we will do the same with them," he warned in response to Israel's policy towards Palestine.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, in response, suggested that the Turkish leader could repeat the fate of Saddam Hussein, who led Iraq from 1979 to 2003 and was executed in 2006. "Erdogan is following in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatening to attack Israel. Just remind him what happened there and how it ended," Katz wrote on the social network X.

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan indirectly commented on the threatening warnings of the Turkish President to Israel the day before. As the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry pointed out in response to a request from local media, "statements about the participation of military personnel of any country in hostilities related to the restoration of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan have no basis."