A newly released policy report on Turkey by the German Marshall Fund’s Transatlantic Academy in Washington caught my eye this week. The report was dubbed, “Getting to Zero: Turkey, Its Neighbors and the West,” and the brief’s analysis and policy recommendations unfortunately display a distinct pro-Turkish bias which fails to recognize that Ankara’s aggressive foreign and security policy posture is increasingly at odds with core U.S. and European interests.

Turkey has not only been working hard to prevent tougher sanctions on its close regional partner Iran – see the recent Turkey-Brazil nuclear deal with Tehran and its “no” vote at the UN Security Council – but has also purposely used last week’s flotilla incident to provoke Israel into military action, while simultaneously boosting its own standing in the Arab world. Turkish flags and portraits of Prime Minister Erdogan are now ubiquitous in the Gaza Strip, where Turkey is being hailed by Hamas and other Muslim extremist groups for daring to confront the Jewish state. Also, tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets across major Turkish cities in recent days, waving Hezbollah and Palestinian flags, while chanting “Allah is Great” and “Down with Israel.”