A Serious Headache
"This is not good news for Hamas", said Mkhaimer Abu Seada, a Gaza-based political analyst. "And the improvement of those ties will certainly come at the expense of the Islamic group", he added.
Standing by Hamas?
“Declaring the legitimate representative of Hamas, who came to power after winning democratic elections in Gaza and who is an important reality of the region, a terrorist will not contribute to efforts for peace and stability in the region", Turkey's Foreign Ministry said at the time.
Beginning of the End?
"Since 2009, after Turkey started to diminish its relations with Israel, the situation in the country began to deteriorate", said the expert.
"The Turkish lira has become weaker. The opposition has become stronger so Erdogan knows that he needs to do better economically to stay in power", he reasoned.
"Turkey might tell those Hamas leaders currently residing in the country to leave or to sit quietly. Ankara knows that in the event of yet another escalation between Israel and Hamas it will not be able to defend the group diplomatically. And it will also need to be careful when it comes to the criticism of Israel".
"Qatar is of course the number one donor of Hamas and it pays the group some $30 million monthly, much of which goes directly to the group", said the expert.
"Turkey is second when it comes to assistance given to Hamas, and I don't think the officials in the group want to lose it. They will simply need to live with the new reality, where Turkey walks a fine line between maintaining relations with both: them and Israel", he summed up.