The new era comes in with the Turkey joining hands as a new Middle East force with other gulf countries that were reclusive due to objected relation with Israel. But now analysts see Turkey’s role as a key player in Middle East and want Turkey to be more involved,  Arab affairs now set in cement when the Saudis honored Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan with a prestigious prize for his “Service to Islam”.

With its own efforts to advance Palestinian-Israeli peace talks flagging, and Iran shrugging off pressure to halt its nuclear programme, Riyadh blessed Ankara’s rising assertiveness in the region in hopes that Erdogan can bring some progress, analysts said.

On a visit to Riyadh to receive the King Faisal Prize for Service To Islam — presented by King Abdullah himself late on Tuesday — Erdogan minced no words in staking out his own role.

“We are not spectators,” he told a group of top Saudi editors at lunch on Tuesday as he offered his views on conflicts involving Iran, Syria, the Palestinians, and even Yemen.

He said Turkey expected to be the intermediary for revived peace talks between Israel and Syria, and rejected US-pushed sanctions for Iran, which Riyadh has also expressed discomfort with.

“I don’t believe that any further sanctions will yield results,” said Erdogan, whose country is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council that could vote on any new Iranian sanctions resolution by the year’s end.

The Turkish premier also insisted democratically elected Hamas be at the table for Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, which Saudi Arabia has resisted due to US pressure.

“We cannot bury our head in the sand,” he said of Hamas’ role.

“If we want to achieve positive results, then the talks must include all parties.

Mustafa Alani, research director at the Gulf Research Centre, a Dubai-based think-tank, said Turkey wanted “more involvement, and the Arab and Gulf states want them more involved.”

“Turkey has a very unique position; they have good relations with Iran and with Israel. This is an advantage for us,” said Alani.

“We look at Turkey as a counterbalance to Iran,” Alani said. Turkey had a role to play in a broader “Islamic politics.”

Turkey’s ascendancy in regional politics has been coming for several years, helping broker earlier rounds of Syrian-Israeli talks, for instance.

Erdogan further gained respect in January 2009, when he famously blasted Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Davos forum over Israel’s assault on Gaza, and then stormed out of the room.

The move contrasted with the disarray and some less-than-vehement reactions from the Arab countries.

With 1,000 top Saudi officials, academics and foreign diplomats in attendance at the prize banquet, the King Faisal Foundation lauded Erdogan as having “rendered outstanding service to Islam by defending the causes of the Islamic nation, particularly the Palestinian cause and the just rights of the Palestinian people.”

“At the international level, he was a leading Muslim founder of the call for rapport between civilisations and a passionate advocate of constructive dialogue, openness, and principles of international understanding and cooperation,” said the foundation’s chief Abdullah al-Othaimeen.

The King Faisal prize comes with a hefty gold medal and 200,000 dollars cash, but for both sides that was hardly the point.

Though it came from a private foundation, the prize was clearly a sign of approval from the Saudi leadership. The King Faisal Foundation is closely tied to the Saudi foreign policy establishment.

The prize “acknowledges Erdogan personally and Turkey as well in our strategic calculation,” said Alani.

It was the second Erdogan received in as many weeks after he was granted the first UN award in memory of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Turkey was the close ally with Israel leading to a diplomatic relations but with the Israel’s rude ambush in gaza triggered a strong condemn by UN Nations and thus unethical relations between Israel and Turkey was withdrawn drawing huge appreciation by middle east and supported turkish PM for the stand against the alleged war by Israel on Gaza.