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<\/p>\nThe 12-day war between Israel and Iran has redrawn the power balance in the Middle East. An emboldened Israel seeking to remake the region; a weakened Iranian regime seeking to survive; and a hesitant United States, reluctant to be drawn into another prolonged conflict. The most dangerous consequence may not lie in further fighting with Iran \u2013 but in the emergence of a more fierce competition between Turkey and Israel.<\/p>\n
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Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan recently captured the new mood in Ankara, telling a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation: \u201cThere is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem \u2013 but there is clearly an Israeli problem<\/em>.\u201d That sentiment reflects a shift in Turkish thinking on Israel\u2019s place in the region; once an ally, then a rival, it is now increasingly seen as an outright adversary. Ankara is uncomfortable with Israel\u2019s assertiveness and emboldened new identity as the region\u2019s hegemon \u2013 a role that Turkey\u2019s President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan had long coveted. Devlet Bah\u00e7eli, a key Erdo\u011fan ally, recently accused Israel of trying to \u201cencircle Anatolia<\/em>\u201d and destabilise Turkey. Once confined to tabloid headlines, such thinking is no longer fringe within the Turkish bureaucracy and mainstream media.<\/p>\n A mirror image of this obsession exists in Israel, where parts of the security establishment increasingly view Turkey\u2019s regional influence as a long-term threat \u201cmore dangerous than Iran<\/em>\u201d. Erdo\u011fan\u2019s public support for Hamas has provoked sharp reactions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government, triggering vitriolic exchanges and fuelling Israeli outreach to Syrian Kurds, whom Ankara has long viewed as a threat. In an already unstable region, a duel between two of the region\u2019s strongest militaries \u2013 both US allies \u2013 could further erode the fragile balance of power.<\/p>\n The conflict is both ideological and geopolitical. Erdo\u011fan\u2019s government has fused Sunni Islamist populism with Turkish nationalism, epitomised by his \u201cCentury of Turkey<\/em>\u201d platform promising to usher in an era of Turkish power abroad. In Israel, a far-right coalition holds an equally deterministic view of Israel\u2019s destiny, pursuing military dominance across Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria. These competing world views leave little room for compromise.<\/p>\n Syria is the most immediate arena for confrontation. Since the Assad regime\u2019s collapse in late 2024, both countries have sought to shape the postwar order. Turkey has expanded its influence in Syria, backing its allies who now hold power and pushing for a stable, centralised government aligned with Ankara. Turkey already controls swaths of northern Syria and is keen to expand its economic and military footprint across the country. Israel, meanwhile, has stepped up air strikes and expressed support for Kurdish and Druze autonomy, viewing Syria\u2019s new rulers with suspicion due to their jihadist roots.<\/p>\n Tensions peaked in April when Israel bombed a site earmarked for a Turkish base. A military hotline now exists, but broader diplomatic engagement is frozen. Meanwhile Turkey has drawn its own conclusions from the Iran war. Israel\u2019s decapitation of Iranian military leadership is a stark reminder of its superior air power and intelligence capabilities. Ankara is now moving to address its own vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n For decades, US policymakers treated Turkey and Israel as indispensable \u2013 if difficult \u2013 allies and pillars of regional stability. Now those two pillars are pressing directly against one another. With Iran weakened, Washington and its allies need to recognise that the Middle East\u2019s next test may come from rivalry between two of their closest partners.<\/p>\n Author: Asl\u0131 Ayd\u0131nta\u015fba\u015f for <\/em>Financial Times<\/p>\n <\/p>\n yogaesoteric <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 12-day war between Israel and Iran has redrawn the power balance in the Middle East. An emboldened Israel seeking to remake the region; a weakened Iranian regime seeking to survive; and a hesitant United States, reluctant to be drawn into another prolonged conflict. The most dangerous consequence may not lie in further fighting with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1090],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-censored-news-military-5127-en-censored-sensational-news-3480-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205478,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205477\/revisions\/205478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nJuly 19, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n