Talking to the Turkey-based Zaman newspaper, Hüseyin Sümer, an independent Turkish analyst said he does not think “Israel is trying to bypass Turkey and replace Turkey with Russia.” ". “This case is similar to Azerbaijan-Turkey relations when Turkey attempted to normalize relations with Armenia so İlham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, went to Moscow,” Sümer said.

Sümer thus responded to the newspaper’s argument that “Israel's close relations with Russia and Turkey's decreasing role in Israel's foreign policy”means the following: Israel is trying to make Russia a “major player in Mideast.”

According to the newspaper, “a recent meeting between Israeli President Shimon Peres and his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev, in Sochi, Russia, supported that point. The Israeli leader during expressed his confidence in Russia's role in the Middle East peace process, for which there has yet to be a solution. The Russian president said conflicts persisting in the Middle East should be solved as quickly as possible and Russia, as a part of a quartet of international mediators, is ready to assist in this solution.”

In this context, it is noteworthy that some regions experts do not trust Turkey anymore. Specifically, Daniel Ayalon, Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel, said that “We have enormous respect and great appreciation for Turkish efforts. But they have not succeeded…”

Adjunct senior research fellow Shlomo Gazit from the Israel-based Institute of National Security Studies (INSS) said that, although he highly regarded Turkey's ambitions to help bring about reconciliation between Israel and Syria after their long-lasting territorial dispute, he is not optimistic about the results of these efforts. ""I am a strong supporter of Israeli-Syrian peace talks, and I would like very much to see a political settlement between our two countries. From this point of view, I highly appreciate the present Turkish initiative, which tried to bring peace between Israel and Syria." He said that “the Turkish negotiation efforts were ambiguous…”

Gazit also noted that Israel no longer trusts Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after his outspoken criticism at Davos concerning Palestinians.

“Turkish [Prime Minister] Erdoğan is not presently considered in Israel as an honest broker, following his attitude and statements during the recent military encounter in the Gaza Strip,” Zaman reports referring to the expert. Gazit also believes direct negotiations are imperative between Israel and Syria.

In his turn, Ayalon said on Tuesday that Israel will no longer continue talks with Syria under Turkish mediation.

However, some Turkish experts believe Israel’s attempt to “to protest Turkey by sidelining with Russia” is doomed to failure.

Sedat Laçiner, Head of the International Strategic and Research Organization (ISRO), said that “Russia blamed Israel, saying it sold weapons to Georgia during the August 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia. Russia also has a close relationship with Iran and Syria. This means that Russia cannot be like Turkey in mediating the talks. Israel, in fact, lost much by keeping Turkey out of the talks.”

Comparing Russia and Turkey, the expert says Turkey and Russia are not similar countries. “Turkey became a natural broker between Syria and Israel due to its increasing role in the Middle East. Israel gained much from Turkey, and it was Turkey that brought Israel and Syria together,” Laçiner said, adding that Israel cannot find a country like Turkey and Turkey wants the best both for Syria and Israel, the newspaper writes.