Petr Lyukimson, Israel, exclusively to VK
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was again forced again to delay his long-planned visit to the Gaza Strip, this time due to the reluctance of new Egyptian authorities to allow him to travel to this area.
The immediate reason for the refusal of Egypt to let the head of the Turkish government enter Gaza was the statements of the latter in support of the recently deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. But the real reason for this anti-Turkish demarche of Egypt, of course, is much deeper. Erdogan is known worldwide for his proximity to the "Muslim Brotherhood", whose leader was Mohammed Mursi. At present, the movement in Egypt is again declared extremist, and Prime Minister Erdogan, respectively, is a leader unfriendly to Egypt.
The unexpected decision of the Egyptian government is fraught with not only the deterioration of the Egyptian-Turkish relations. The leaders of the ruling party in Gaza, Hamas, have said they see the move of Egypt as hostile and fraught with increasing round of tension in relations between Egypt and the Gaza Strip and in the Sinai Peninsula.
The Israeli leadership chose not to react to the incident so far, although, of course, it is closely following the developments. Currently, according to senior sources in the Israeli government, Israel supports "normal working relationship" with the new Egyptian leadership.
