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Ankara: Fury Of The Lobbies

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  • Ankara: Fury Of The Lobbies

    FURY OF THE LOBBIES
    Ali Bulac

    www.worldbulletin.net
    Feb 24 2009
    Turkey

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's showdown in Davos inevitably hurt
    bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel. High-level officials
    from both sides have made harsh statements.

    To some degree, these statements are understandable. However, when
    they cross the line and the parties' attitudes and stance become
    harsher, the criticisms turn into serious problems, causing unpleasant
    results. A recent column by David L. Phillips from The Boston Globe
    (Feb. 20) is one such example. Phillips relies on a threatening tone.

    "If Erdogan wants to restore his reputation as a statesman and
    a reliable partner of the West, Turkey must repair its ties with
    Israel, normalize relations with Armenia, and welcome ships from
    Cyprus. Becoming an advocate for Hamas is a mistake. Turkey's future
    lies with the West. The Islamist street leads away from Europe to
    the Middle East," he writes.

    This is obviously not trying to be polite. It is arrogant and crosses
    the line of criticism. A country like Turkey is not afraid of such
    threats; it won't consider the threats referred to by Phillips.

    In fact, Erdogan's response to Peres in Davos should not be
    exaggerated. Other Arab countries have done the same. Muammar Qaddafi
    described the Arab leaders as cowards for their failure to do anything
    vis-a-vis the civilian massacres in Gaza. The Algerian parliament
    adopted a resolution making all diplomatic and commercial relations
    with Israel a crime. Morocco's King Muhammad VI declared that he
    would not humiliate and embarrass himself by participating in any Arab
    summit that failed to take effective action against the anguish of the
    Gazans. We also know a lot about the initiatives of the emir of Qatar
    under the roof of the UN Security Council. Iran, while displaying a
    balanced reaction, never wavered in its position vis-a-vis Israel.

    All these examples show that the prime minister's reaction to the
    attacks leaving 1,380 dead bodies behind was pretty normal. Besides,
    the Israeli prime minister paid an official visit to Turkey five
    days before the attacks to discuss the fifth round of peace talks
    with Syria; during this visit, he did not make any mention whatsoever
    about the attack on Gaza. According to Turkey, a country like Israel,
    which masterfully concealed its plans, cannot be trusted anyway because
    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert undermined Turkey's prestige and
    image in the eyes of Syria.

    Jewish lobbies in the US falsely believe that they are strong enough to
    make their agenda accepted. This is not true. Prime Minister Erdogan's
    legitimacy and status is derived from the support and endorsement of
    Turkish people because Turkey is a democratic country. It is true ours
    is not a perfect democracy, however, it could be comfortably said that
    Turkey's democracy is way better and far more advanced than that of
    Israel. A democracy that makes 1.5 million Arab citizens second class
    citizens and where 85 percent of the people approve of the civilian
    massacres deserves close scrutiny. The lines between the military will
    and power and the civilian administration are not clear and visible;
    criteria determining these lines are blurred. The role of democratic
    reactions should be taken into account when developing a stance and
    position with respect to Israel, Armenia and Cyprus. This was the
    primary factor behind the rejection of the notorious March 1 motion
    by the Turkish Parliament.

    In the end, it seems that Erdogan's rage and reaction remained
    unfruitful and did not culminate in concrete action. Considering the
    close military, diplomatic and logistical relations between Turkey
    and Israel, it is obvious that this reaction did not harm Israel. For
    instance, if Turkey had canceled its agreement on training Israeli
    pilots and commandos in Turkey, we might have concluded that Erdogan's
    reaction was based on some concrete action.

    When it comes to the Jewish lobbies' threats with respect to the
    Armenian genocide claims, this is not something Turkey should be
    worried about. There will be no difference between the endorsement of
    the claims by the US Congress and the approval of the same allegations
    by parliaments of other countries. Besides, the Jewish lobbies will
    be most affected by this because they will lose the monopolistic
    power over the "genocide" issue.
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