Turkey’s Double Game: The Pipeline, the Protest, and the Quiet Pact

 

Turkey’s Double Game: The Pipeline, the Protest, and the Quiet Pact

Turkey says it’s #Israel’s_enemy. #Erdoğ screams genocide from podiums, embraces Hamas leaders in Istanbul, and cuts trade on camera. And yet—Israel keeps receiving oil through Turkish ports. Ships just turn off their transponders before docking. Pipelines like BTC continue pumping crude that ends up in Israeli refineries, and Turkey still profits from every barrel.

It’s not just oil. Trade keeps flowing behind the scenes. Goods get rerouted, relabeled, reshuffled. Ankara bans shipments on paper, but business finds a way. Because behind the theatrics, Turkey knows where its interests lie. Israel’s economy matters. Its technology matters. So do the billions in energy revenues and leverage over Europe.

Meanwhile, Erdoğan plays host to Hamas, refusing to call them terrorists. It makes him the hero of the Arab street. He gets to posture as a defender of Gaza while keeping the backdoor open to Israeli commerce and strategic ties. It’s not confusion, it’s calculation.

And yet, Turkey protects its Jewish community. Synagogues are guarded. The Jewish presence is not under siege. The hatred is reserved for Zionists, not Jews—at least publicly. Why? Because Erdoğan wants both: the Islamist vote and international legitimacy. He wants to be the middleman, the loudest critic, the quiet partner.

Even when embassies close, diplomacy doesn’t stop. That’s how it’s always worked in this region. The real game is happening behind curtains.

Turkey isn’t being hypocritical. It’s being brilliant cynical, yes, but strategic. And if we keep buying the slogans instead of following the ships, the money, and the maps, we’re just the audience to a performance we never auditioned for.