Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, a Turkish politics expert, dismissed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's call for Muslim nations to unite against the "threat of Israeli expansion" in the Middle East, claiming that Israel seeks to conquer the region.Following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's call on Saturday for Muslim nations to band together against the "threat of Israeli expansion" in the Middle East, claiming that Israel seeks to conquer countries in the region, Turkish politics expert Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak dismissed the possibility of such a union.

Dr. Yanarocak, who was born and reared in Turkey, is a researcher at Tel Aviv University's Dayan Centre, specialising in Turkish politics and Turkey-Israel relations. "For several years now, Erdogan has emphasised the importance of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)," Yanarocak pointed out. "It is no secret that they seek to increase the organization's influence. Their worldview largely focusses on collaborative decision-making by the entire Muslim world with the goal of achieving a common agenda. Of course, Erdogan frequently raises Gaza as a problem that needs to be handled. This does not surprise me at all.

The Islamic world remains divided 

Dr. Yanarocak continued, "With all due respect, and there is respect, there are very deep divisions within the Muslim world. We know well that the OIC typically makes symbolic decisions, and each Muslim country has different interests. For example, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have different interests from Iran or Pakistan. Turkey also has its own foreign policy and wants to use the OIC to increase the political pressure it desires. I don’t think this is feasible because Muslim nations don’t view things from the same perspective."

Regarding Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a human rights activist with both American and Turkish citizenship who was killed near Nablus, the Yanarocak said, "The shooting of the Turkish civilian in Nablus is significant because she had American citizenship, and she was born in Turkey, so she’s also Turkish. Erdogan is using this incident in his speech to rally against the IDF. It’s just more fuel for the fire."