Is Tayyip Erdoğan the new Nasser?

This was not just breaking news to the media, but also music to the ears of millions of Turks who were deeply touched by the recent bloodshed that Israel caused in the Gaza Strip. Some of them even hit the streets in order to welcome Erdoğan, who had decided to come to Istanbul right away after the tense debate. Thousands of cars headed toward the Atatürk airport in the middle of the night in order to welcome "the conqueror of Davos."

’Turkey is proud of you’

I personally had a more mundane problem at that very moment. In order to catch my 5 a.m. flight, I had left home at a quite reasonable time, 2.30 a.m. But the traffic to the airport was completely locked because of the amazing number of cars destined toward it. So, after leaving the taxi at the start of the long river of vehicles, I had to walk on the highway for about two kilometers, my hands on my luggage and my eyes on the crowd. When Erdoğan finally stepped out of the terminal, while I just walking into it, thousands applauded him and started to chant, "Turkey is proud of you!"

Apparently it was not just Turkey, but also the whole Arab or even the greater Muslim world, in which Mr. Erdoğan gained a powerful sympathy by his stance against Israeli militarism.

Next day, his posters showed up on not only Turkish but also Arab streets as the hero of the downtrodden Palestinians. "Erdoğan proved once again," argued journalist Muhammed Nur, in Lebanon’s Al-Sair, "that he is more Arab and human than most Arab rulers." The Iranians even said that he deserved a Nobel Prize.

Since then, a few commentators in the Turkish media have argued that Mr. Erdoğan can be turning into a hero for the Muslim Middle East in a way reminiscent of the late Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian leader who ruled his country for 15 years and fought against Israel two times.

It is an inflated similarity, though, I believe. First of all, no non-Arab leader can become such a central figure in the Arab world. Secondly, and more importantly, the rhetoric of Erdoğan, who opposes Israel’s militarism, is fundamentally different from that of Nasser -- or of contemporary figures such as the Iranian President Ahmadinejad -- who oppose Israel’s very right to exist.

And here lies a very interesting point which can make Mr. Erdoğan a really unique leader in the near history of the Middle East: For decades, there have been two types of political figures in the region: Those who became heroes by fighting or rallying against Israel, and those who were branded as "traitors" by making peace with the her. Now, with Mr. Erdoğan, what we have is a third type of leader: A one who has become a hero for the masses by standing against the excessive policies of Israel, but who also calls for making peace with her.

Turkey’s relations with Hamas is a good manifestation of the third way that Mr. Erdoğan follows. The first way is the way of the "international community:" Hamas is a terrorist organization which can’t be negotiated with. Some Arab countries do speak to Hamas, but Hamas leaders don’t trust these regimes which suppress their ideological brethren -- such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt -- in their internal scene.

Thus, Hamas trusts the representatives of the second way: that of Iran and Syria, who themselves are not at peace with Israel, and, in the latter case, even call for its destruction. But in its third way, the Turkey of Mr. Erdoğan has good contacts with Hamas, is trusted by the group, and tries to convince it to integrate into the peace process with Israel.

Turkey’s third way

The bottom line is that Mr. Erdoğan, thankfully, is no Nasser who will fan the engines of radicalism in the Middle East. But his growing popularity among the once pro-Nasser "Arab street," can be an asset for peace in the region, if it can be utilized by Turkish and foreign policy makers.

In others words, if the stalled Middle East peace process will be revitalized by the new American administration -- something that President Obama seems to be dedicated for -- Mr. Erdoğan can help this process by filling the gap between popularity and moderation. That is something that Mr. George Mitchell, the new U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, might like to note.