Turkey’s relations with Israel have always been somewhat ambivalent. Although Turkey, a Muslim country, recognized Israel in 1949, Ankara did not want to worsen its relations with the Arab world, which it had ruled for centuries prior to 1920.
Though the Turks were not pleased with Israel’s role in the Suez crisis of 1956, or the two Arab-Israel wars of 1967 and 1973, relations remained relatively "correct." Turkey was run by secularists, often military men, who subscribed to Kemal Ataturk’s separation of politics and religion.
Indeed, relations grew warmer in the 1990s, with increased cooperation between the two countries’ militaries. As well, cooperation in areas such as investment, manufacturing, technical cooperation, and joint enterprises began to expand as a result of agreements.
But the coming to power of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) following the November 2002 elections brought a more Islamic tone to Turkish foreign policy. This became more pronounced as the Oslo Peace process between Israel and the Palestinians began to falter.
Following the Palestinian parliamentary election in January 2006, a Hamas delegation headed by Khaled Mashaal visited Ankara unexpectedly. As a result of this visit, Turkey became the first country to meet officially with Hamas. Israel, obviously, was not pleased.
Things would go from bad to worse. On Dec. 27, 2008, a three-week armed conflict between Hamas and Israel began, following continuous rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel. The Turkish government, following public opinion, came out strongly against Israel.
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan had an angry exchange with Israeli president Shimon Peres during a panel discussion on Gaza at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, at the end of January 2009. "When it comes to killing, you know well how to kill," Erdogan told Peres, and walked off the stage.
In late May of 2010, the Mavi Marmara, a ship purchased by the Turkish-based Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), an NGO with Islamic ties, left Istanbul to break Israel’s Gaza blockade as part of a Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The ship was boarded by Israeli commandos in international waters on May 31, following warnings to the ship by Israel to turn back. In the resulting melee, nine activists were killed and several more wounded. Seven Israelis were also injured in the skirmish.
The raid drew widespread condemnation and resulted in the further deterioration of Israeli-Turkish relations. In September 2011, Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador; Hamas praised the decision. That same month military agreements between Turkey and Israel were suspended.
A renewed week-long war between Israel and Hamas between November 14 and 21 of last year again drew Turkish condemnation of Israel, with the Turkish Foreign Ministry condemning it as "the latest example of the aggressive policy of Israel." Erdogan denounced Israel as a "terrorist state" that "massacres innocent children." He later called Zionism a "crime against humanity" while speaking before a Vienna forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, a UN framework for West-Islam dialogue last February.
Turkey welcomed a UN General Assembly vote last November giving Palestine non-member statehood in the world body, saying the dramatic gesture would bolster the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process. "The reality of Palestine is a bleeding wound in the conscience of all humanity," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the delegates.
Of late, there has been a slight thaw in the relationship. On March 22, 2013, in a half-hour telephone exchange between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Erdogan, the former apologized about the Mavi Marmara raid on behalf of Israel. Netanyahu acknowledged "operational mistakes" and made it clear that the loss of life was unintentional.
Erdogan told Netanyahu that he thought the deterioration of ties between the countries was regrettable, especially given "the shared history and centuries old ties of strong friendship and cooperation between the Jewish and Turkish peoples."
Despite these words, ties between the two countries will probably never return to the pre-2002 level. Israeli-Turkish talks have stalled, and there has been no normalization of relations or exchange of ambassadors. Erdogan’s Islamic-oriented foreign policy in a turbulent Middle East makes a rapprochement almost impossible.
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