Emotion is one thing, diplomacy is another. The fact the Turkish population is shocked by the tragedy of Mavi Marmara is logical and legitimate. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s verbal excesses against Israel is the cold realpolitik, according to Frederic Encel, a French writer and scholar of geopolitics.

“Such break of relations is a part of diplomatic re-orientation carried out by the Islamist-conservative government with a purpose to make Turkey the leading power in Middle East. However, there are several difficulties that threaten this geopolitical rise. First, in the Arab world, Ankara will face the double cleavage - Arab-Persian and Sunni-Shiite. A pan-Iranian Shiite aggressive nuclear race frightens the Sunni Arab states. Second, Egypt will not allow Turkey to deprive it of the leadership in the Arab-Muslim world, and will be supported by the League of Arab States. Third, alliance with Russia and Iran may cause indignation of Turkey’s traditional ally – Azerbaijan. And finally, a conjunction of Jewish and Armenian Diaspora is emerging in the United States as a powerful opponent to Turkey,” Dr. Encel wrote in a peace of opinion published in Le Monde.