Armenian News-NEWS.am presents the article by Burak Bekdil published in Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review newspaper.

“So says Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top foreign policy advisor, Ibrahim Kalin. Mr. Kalin defends the idea that it was wise for Turkey in the past to engage the Middle East’s rogue states and black sheep like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood. Now that engagement has paid off, according to Mr. Erdogan’s aide,” the newspaper reports.

“But remember only half a year ago Mr. Erdogan happily received the Gadhafi Human Rights Prize. Half a year ago, Mr. Erdogan was planning to launch what this columnist dubbed the Middle Eastern Coal and Steel Union – with Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Half a year ago, Mr. Erdogan and his “dear friend and brother” Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, were all smiles when they removed visa restrictions on travel between their two brotherly countries,” the source reads.

“Today the Turkish-Syrian border reminds one of the same border in 1998 when Turkey threatened Syria with war. Syrian tanks parade along the border areas while a Turkish army commander inspects the readiness of his troops in the unwanted event of a clash.”

“Travel is still visa-free, but Syrian officials make it extremely difficult for Turkish commercial trucks and even taxis to cross the border. Agence France-Presse quoted one Turkish truck driver as saying the honeymoon is over,” the newspaper says.

“Only a week after an official Iranian newspaper accused Turkey of providing arms to Syrian protestors, Syrian officials for the first time declared that their best friend until half a year ago was helping the revolt (the “terrorists”). So, only half a year was sufficient to turn one of Syria’s best friends into a sponsor of terrorism,” the source reports.

“In Ankara, Mr. Erdogan seems to be preparing to completely abandon his great friend and brother, Mr. Assad and find a new great friend and brother in Egypt, with which Turkey will soon hold a strategic council meeting. Mr. Erdogan hopes the Muslim Brotherhood performs well in Egypt’s elections later this year. For Ankara, Cairo can be the new Damascus until another Arab capital becomes the new Cairo,” the newspaper reads.

“Meanwhile in Tehran, another “great friend and brother,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, must be curious about the latest Turkish zigzag, which he must by now be prepared for – zigzags have always been an essential tool of Turkish foreign policy based on a generous dose of pragmatism with occasional and interchangeable touches of third-worldism, neo-Ottomanism and Islamism,” the source says.

“In a speech at a Middle East Institute forum in Washington, Mr. Kalin said 65 to 70 percent of Turks approved of Mr. Erdogan’s foreign policy (62 percent, according to Pew research), an indication that the Turks are happy to be “shaping the Arab Spring,” the newspaper reads.