Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 15 2007
Despite ups and downs, Turkish-Israeli ties still strengthening
"It is like a smokescreen. While criticizing Israel over Tel Aviv’s
approval of construction near a disputed holy site in Jerusalem,
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan also talked about the
peace that should prevail between Palestinians and Israel. While
Erdoðan created the image of a chilly reception to Israel’s Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert just ahead of his visit to Ankara Wednesday
evening, he also gave signals of a strong Turkish interest in playing
a role in the Middle East peace," said a senior Turkish diplomat.
It is true that Turkish-Israeli relations have been witnessing ups
and downs since the Islamic-based conservative Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) government came to power in November
2002, at least at the level of rhetoric. In real life, however, we
witness real politics at work in relations between the regions’ two
non-Arab countries.
Evidence of this is the ongoing military and trade ties between the
two.
As of 2005, Israel became Turkey’s largest trade partner in the
Middle East. Israeli imports to Turkey $900 million and Israel earned
$1.2 billion from Turkish exports to Israel
In the News Blaze daily, journalist Calev Ben-David outlines both the
economic and the military agreements signed between the two countries
since the AK Party came to power in 2002. They vary from cooperation
in water projects, agro-technology, Israel becoming a possible
transit route via Turkey for Black Sea-Red Sea gas, oil and water
pipelines to Ankara brokering the first official talks between Israel
and Pakistan in Ýstanbul in 2005.
Additionally, Turkish-Israeli military cooperation continues in every
sphere, from cooperation in intelligence sharing, mutual high-level
visits to joint arms production.
It was no coincidence that back in 2002 and in 2005 then-Turkish
Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Özkök and Turkish Air Force
Commander Gen. Faruk Cömert paid unpublicized visits to Israel. Both
sought increased cooperation in intelligence sharing concerning the
Middle East.
But unlike what the Arabs think, despite the value attached to the
military cooperation with Israel, the Turkish military does not allow
Israel to hold joint exercises with Ankara that will involve
live-fire tests. It also doesn’t agree to turn the trilateral
(Turkey, US, Israel) navy exercises, code-named Reliant Mermaid, to
extend its operations from the current search and rescue to war
games, which was told to me by a retired navy officer who was among
the team initiating the Turkish-Israeli military and defense industry
cooperation in 1996 and 1997.
It is also worth mentioning that Turkey’s powerful armed forces have
been standing as an important driving force in boosting
Turkish-Israeli military ties.
In the meantime, it is not expected that a pending meeting between
the visiting Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaþar Büyükanýt and
Rep. Tom Lantos, head of the US House of Representatives Committee on
Foreign Affairs and a pro-Israel congressman, would make a serious
contribution to prevent the Armenian genocide resolution from being
passed by Congress some time in April, but it is for sure that
Büyükanýt is expected to considerably ease concerns of the strong
Jewish lobby that Turkish-Israeli military ties will continue as
usual.
With the Republicans having lost control of Congress, Turkey has got
a strong Jewish lobby in its hands that could play its card to stop
the Armenian genocide resolution from being passed, although the
Jewish lobby’s involvement is reportedly inadequate to prevent the
adoption of the resolution.
Meanwhile, we should also realize that Turkey as a Muslim nation has
never been indifferent to the fellow Palestinians’ grievances in the
region. Thus, it would be wrong to assume that under the AK Party
government, the future of Turkish-Israeli relations were questioned.
It was not only Erdoðan who branded, rightly or wrongly, Israeli
actions against the Palestinians as a state terrorism, but also the
late Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit, back in 2002, who described the
Israeli army’s attacks against Palestinians as genocide.
But at the end of the day both Turkey and Israel, the only democratic
nations in the Middle East, can help democracy flourish in the region
if they join forces, regardless of ups and downs in their relations
depending on the conjuncture.