Turkish-Israeli Ties Warming

Baltimore Jewish Times (Baltimore, Maryland)
April 27, 2005

The recent announcement that Turkey’s prime minister, will visit
Israel is a signal that the two Middle Eastern allies may be coming to
the end of a rocky period in their relationship, officials in Turkey
and Israel say.

“The significance for both sides is that the official declaration of
the visit means that relations are back on track after a tough
political year,” Pinhas Avivi, Israel’s ambassador to Turkey, told
JTA. “The economic and security relations were not impacted, but I
think” Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “visit will again solidify the political
relations.”

Erdogan, who heads the Islamic Justice and Development Party, is
scheduled to depart for Israel on May 1 and spend two days there. He
is expected to meet with his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon, Foreign
Minister Silvan Shalom and President Moshe Katsav.

Erdogan also will visit the Palestinian territories and meet with
officials there.

In many ways, the tension that grew between Jerusalem and Ankara
stemmed from Erdogan’s office. Several times, the Turkish prime
minister described Israel’s actions against the Palestinians as “state
terror.”

The criticism of Israel is believed to stem from two sources: the
roots of Erdogan’s party in Islamic fundamentalism, and the fact that
Turkey can score political points in the Arab and Muslim world by
blasting Israel, knowing that the Jewish state never reciprocates by
criticizing Turkey’s treatment of its minorities or its role in the
Armenian genocide.

The upcoming visit, Erdogan’s first to Israel, has been in the works
for a long time; the length of time it took to arrange it became yet
another point of friction.

In that sense, Erdogan’s visit has important symbolic value, said
Soner Cagaptay, an expert on Turkey at the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy.

“After the strained period of harsh remarks toward Sharon and his
government, if this trip goes well and there is a deepening of
understanding and dialogue, it would mean the return to normality for
the Turkish-Israeli relationship,” he said.

“It’s important for Erdogan and Sharon to meet in person, to create a
channel of communication and to help them realize that they are both
politicians,” Cagaptay continued. “This will be a chance for them,
especially for Erdogan,” to show “that the other side is just a
politician with human ambitions and nothing more.”

Turkey’s relations with the United States also are strained
now. American political and military officials continue to express
disappointment over Turkey’s refusal to allow U.S. troops to enter
Iraq from the north, across the Turkish border, when the war in Iraq
began two years ago.

Washington also has been alarmed by a rise in anti-American sentiment
in Turkey. One of the country’s bestsellers, for example, is the
fictional account of an American military invasion of Turkey.

Erdogan is expected to visit the United States later in May, but
Ephraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic
Studies at Israel’s Bar Ilan University, said Erdogan’s visit to
Israel is an indication that one of the roads to Washington goes
through Jerusalem.

“I think it’s a signal to Washington” that Turkey wants to improve its
relationship with the United States, “and could use Israel’s help in
doing that,” Inbar said.

Ankara also depends on the support of American Jewish organizations,
who frequently have acted as the main lobbyists on Turkey’s behalf in
Washington. Jewish American leaders recently have expressed concerns
about the strains between Turkey and both Israel and the United
States.

“If the trip is going to bring the period of the strains to an end,”
and will help normalize the relationship between Turkey and Israel,
“this would be one way of winning back the hearts of the American
Jewish organizations,” Cagaptay said.

Despite the political tensions, Israeli and Turkish officials point
out that other components of the relationship between the two
countries – particularly trade and military cooperation – have not
been affected. The level of annual trade between the two countries is
now approaching $2 billion, up from $1.2 billion three years ago.

Turkey also recently signed a $200 million deal to buy a sophisticated
network of unmanned aerial vehicles and ground stations from
Israel. Erdogan’s visit – and an expected reciprocal trip by Sharon to
Turkey – will help bring the relationship back to normal, Inbar said.

“You have to invest in bilateral relations, especially with
Turkey. This is a chance for Israel to invest in the relationship, to
introduce Erdogan to the right people,” Inbar said. “Maintenance is an
important part of the relationship.”

This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.