Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recalled Israel the spoiled child of Middle East and is seeking to capitalize on Turkey’s increasing stature and influence across the Arab world with his latest ‘Arap Spring Tour’ starting with Egypt.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared in front of large and eagerly waiting Egyptian crowd as soon as he landed in Cairo airport to kick off his ‘Arab Spring tour’, which is also going to involve visits to Libya and Tunisia in addition to Egypt. Turkey’s Prime Minister, rapidly gaining on the trust and faith in the eyes of regions’ folk is seeking to grow his regional celebrity and capitalize Turkey’s status as a role model for Arab states fitfully inching toward democracy. His visits are perfectly timed at a moment when the revolutions of the Arab Spring in Egypt, Libya and Tunusia, as those countries are going through a tough period. The established order in the region for the last 30 years has crumbled and the currently leaderless states of Arab Spring Movement are seeking for a leader from outside, an oppurtunity Recep Tayyip Erdogan doesn’t want to pass by. Israel’s uneasy peace with all of its neighbors, in particular, Egypt and the current fragile status of Turkey Israel relations seem like to favour the ambitous and cunning Prime Minister of Turkey.

Turkey tries to seize the political leadership role over Arab world

Turkey was once a close ally of Israel, arguably the only one in the always problematic Middle East region. Turkey increased its rapidly growing stature across the Arab world when it downgraded diplomatic relations with Israel and expelled Israel’s ambassador to Turkey this month after Israel refused to issue an apology for the commando raid last year aboard an aid ship trying to break the Gaza blockade.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in fact an Arabic originated name, was already lionized across the region for his commitment to Islamist politics,comments on pluralistic constitutional democracy and energetic economic development. In Egypt, after Hussnu Mubarak’s downfall , aspiring Islamist politicians often try to label themselves as “the Egyptian Erdogan.” Erdogan visited famished Somalia last month with a contingent of Turkish diplomats, artisans and bussinessmen and expressed Turkey’s solid policy helping the poor in need. He mentioned that Turkey is a big power in the world, inherits the power remained from former Turkish Civilisations and Ottoman Empire.

Turkey Prime Minister Erdogan arrived in Egypt, his influence grow

Egypt has long viewed itself as a leading voice in the Arab world, until Turkey’s influence has risen steadily with its growing economic power and its confident policy in the Middle East region, notably towards Israel, which has drawn praise from many Arabs.

There will be rivalry over a regional role for sure. Egypt is not in a position to play such a role at the moment so Erdogan is trying to seize the opportunity of altering conjuncture. However Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan will use his visit to Cairo as a barometer to measure just how popular he is in the Arab World but many Arab leaders may not be as enthusiastic about seeing him feed on this popularity.

Prime Minister Erdogan is due to visit Tunisia on Wednesday and hold talks in Libya on Thursday. He even planned to visit Gaza stripe, but the visit isn’t officialy declared as yet.

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