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Turkey and Israel: Out of the frying pan into the fire
by Amanda Paul
Today's Zaman
Sept 6 2011
Turkey
Once upon a time Turkey and Israel enjoyed warm and friendly
relations. As one Turkish diplomat told me, "Relations were almost
sacred." While Turkey has always asked Israel to be more respectful
of the rights of the Palestinian people, the countries have enjoyed
cooperation on numerous issues, representing something of a "tandem"
of allies for the US in the Middle East.
Unfortunately, those days are now gone. Relations have hit rock bottom
with the decision by Turkey to downgrade diplomatic ties following
the leaking of the UN's Palmer Report.
The relationship has been deteriorating since 2005 when Israel
increased its operations against Gaza. Things soured further in 2009
when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli President
Shimon Perez had the "one minute" row over Israeli operations causing
deaths of civilians in Gaza. Relations continued to spiral downwards
hitting an all time low in the aftermath of the 2010 Mavi Mamara
flotilla incident when nine Turks were killed by Israeli commandos.
While the report suggests that Israel should express regret for the
killing of the nine Turks on board and pay compensation it also says
that while Israel's commandos used excessive force, their actions were
nevertheless an act of self-defense because they "faced significant
resistance" from a group of passengers on board. It also declares
that the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza is legal, something which has
infuriated Turkey, which continues to claim the blockade contradicts
international law. While Israel states it regrets the current state
of relations and the deaths, and has said it is ready to comply with
the report's recommendations, its leadership has repeatedly stated
it has nothing to apologize for and has no intention of lifting the
blockade on Gaza. As one Israeli diplomat explained: "We are not going
to lift the blockade simply because Turkey tells us to. We will do
it when weapons smuggling comes to an end and the lives of Israeli
citizens are no longer at risk."
The downgrading of diplomatic ties now makes it more difficult to
peruse channels for rapprochement. For now, both sides are digging
their heals in further. It would seem that Israel is making a strategic
choice that risks not only the severing of relations but possibly much
worse by failing to grasp the regional implications of this standoff,
which are clearly far broader than its relations with Turkey. For
example, Israel will lose the opportunity to cooperate with Turkey
on mending fences with a new regime in Syria, which sooner or later
will replace the al-Assad regime, while also risking greater tensions
with Iran. Therefore, not surprising, there are also many voices in
Israel saying the government should stop burying its head in the sand
and apologize. Moreover, the comments of former US Defense Secretary
Robert Gates, that Israel was an ungrateful ally and unable to cope
with its growing isolation, clearly shows the US is beginning to lose
patience. Meanwhile Israel seems to be focused on building up stronger
bilateral ties with countries labeled as Turkey's enemies -- Greece,
Greek Cypriots and Armenia.
Turkey, which has described the report as null and void, has now not
only downgraded diplomatic relations, frozen military agreements and
plans to challenge Israel and the legitimacy of the Gaza blockade in
international courts, Ankara is also threatening to take on Israel,
if necessary, in the international waters of the Mediterranean, where
Turkey's navy is likely to shortly be sent to visibly patrol. Clashes
between the two cannot be ruled out. However, if Turkey were to go down
this road it would represent a U-turn from the soft power approach it
has followed over the last few years. Turkey seems to be working on a
policy of pushing Israel deeper and deeper into isolation in the hope
that Israel will "crack," in a region where Turkey's influence has
skyrocketed in the last few days and where Ankara has huge ambitions
for itself. However, with many analysts stating that Turkey seems to
be more interested in using Israel as a scapegoat to further raise
its popularity in the Arab world rather than working to rebuild ties,
Turkey also needs to reflect on its strategy and credibility --
particularly in light of a forthcoming request by Palestine for the
recognition of their state and full UN membership, which Turkey will
be planning to push extremely hard for.
For now it seems that both countries are waiting for each other
to change their diplomacy. Turkey also cut diplomatic ties in 1980
following Israel's annexing of East Jerusalem, then transferring its
capital to the ancient town. It took 12 years for the two countries
to get relations back on track. However, this time, it seems there
is much more at stake. With the ongoing tensions in Syria and a
Greek Cypriot-Israeli-American gas drilling project about to kick
off on Oct. 1, a significant increase in tensions in the eastern
Mediterranean cannot be ruled out over the next few weeks...
From: Baghdasarian
by Amanda Paul
Today's Zaman
Sept 6 2011
Turkey
Once upon a time Turkey and Israel enjoyed warm and friendly
relations. As one Turkish diplomat told me, "Relations were almost
sacred." While Turkey has always asked Israel to be more respectful
of the rights of the Palestinian people, the countries have enjoyed
cooperation on numerous issues, representing something of a "tandem"
of allies for the US in the Middle East.
Unfortunately, those days are now gone. Relations have hit rock bottom
with the decision by Turkey to downgrade diplomatic ties following
the leaking of the UN's Palmer Report.
The relationship has been deteriorating since 2005 when Israel
increased its operations against Gaza. Things soured further in 2009
when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli President
Shimon Perez had the "one minute" row over Israeli operations causing
deaths of civilians in Gaza. Relations continued to spiral downwards
hitting an all time low in the aftermath of the 2010 Mavi Mamara
flotilla incident when nine Turks were killed by Israeli commandos.
While the report suggests that Israel should express regret for the
killing of the nine Turks on board and pay compensation it also says
that while Israel's commandos used excessive force, their actions were
nevertheless an act of self-defense because they "faced significant
resistance" from a group of passengers on board. It also declares
that the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza is legal, something which has
infuriated Turkey, which continues to claim the blockade contradicts
international law. While Israel states it regrets the current state
of relations and the deaths, and has said it is ready to comply with
the report's recommendations, its leadership has repeatedly stated
it has nothing to apologize for and has no intention of lifting the
blockade on Gaza. As one Israeli diplomat explained: "We are not going
to lift the blockade simply because Turkey tells us to. We will do
it when weapons smuggling comes to an end and the lives of Israeli
citizens are no longer at risk."
The downgrading of diplomatic ties now makes it more difficult to
peruse channels for rapprochement. For now, both sides are digging
their heals in further. It would seem that Israel is making a strategic
choice that risks not only the severing of relations but possibly much
worse by failing to grasp the regional implications of this standoff,
which are clearly far broader than its relations with Turkey. For
example, Israel will lose the opportunity to cooperate with Turkey
on mending fences with a new regime in Syria, which sooner or later
will replace the al-Assad regime, while also risking greater tensions
with Iran. Therefore, not surprising, there are also many voices in
Israel saying the government should stop burying its head in the sand
and apologize. Moreover, the comments of former US Defense Secretary
Robert Gates, that Israel was an ungrateful ally and unable to cope
with its growing isolation, clearly shows the US is beginning to lose
patience. Meanwhile Israel seems to be focused on building up stronger
bilateral ties with countries labeled as Turkey's enemies -- Greece,
Greek Cypriots and Armenia.
Turkey, which has described the report as null and void, has now not
only downgraded diplomatic relations, frozen military agreements and
plans to challenge Israel and the legitimacy of the Gaza blockade in
international courts, Ankara is also threatening to take on Israel,
if necessary, in the international waters of the Mediterranean, where
Turkey's navy is likely to shortly be sent to visibly patrol. Clashes
between the two cannot be ruled out. However, if Turkey were to go down
this road it would represent a U-turn from the soft power approach it
has followed over the last few years. Turkey seems to be working on a
policy of pushing Israel deeper and deeper into isolation in the hope
that Israel will "crack," in a region where Turkey's influence has
skyrocketed in the last few days and where Ankara has huge ambitions
for itself. However, with many analysts stating that Turkey seems to
be more interested in using Israel as a scapegoat to further raise
its popularity in the Arab world rather than working to rebuild ties,
Turkey also needs to reflect on its strategy and credibility --
particularly in light of a forthcoming request by Palestine for the
recognition of their state and full UN membership, which Turkey will
be planning to push extremely hard for.
For now it seems that both countries are waiting for each other
to change their diplomacy. Turkey also cut diplomatic ties in 1980
following Israel's annexing of East Jerusalem, then transferring its
capital to the ancient town. It took 12 years for the two countries
to get relations back on track. However, this time, it seems there
is much more at stake. With the ongoing tensions in Syria and a
Greek Cypriot-Israeli-American gas drilling project about to kick
off on Oct. 1, a significant increase in tensions in the eastern
Mediterranean cannot be ruled out over the next few weeks...
From: Baghdasarian