ANALYSIS: ‘TALKING TURKISH’ WITH THE SYRIANS
By Herb Keinon
Jerusalem Post, Israel
Sep 11, 2007 0:56 | Updated Sep 11, 2007 0:56
There is something ironic in Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan’s
protest Monday over Israel’s alleged flyover of Syrian territory
last week.
"This is an unacceptable development," he said during a joint news
conference with his Syrian counterpart, Walid Moallem.
"All countries in the region must show respect to all countries’
sovereignty and carefully avoid acts that lead to tensions," Babacan
said. "Otherwise, tensions would be fueled, and peace and stability
in the region might be harmed."
Interesting words from the foreign minister of a country that
just nine years ago amassed thousands of troops on its border with
Syria and rattled its sabers to get Syria to end its support for the
separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and to cough up its leader,
Abdullah Ocalan.
Indeed, there are those who believe that Israel’s alleged foray into
Syrian airspace was an attempt to "talk Turkish" with the Syrians
and use Turkish methods – saber rattling – to get Damascus to end
support for Hamas and to disgorge Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.
If Syria ended its support for the PKK and eventually got rid of
Ocalan, then – this logic goes – maybe similar methods can be used
to get it to end its support for Hamas.
According to this reasoning, Thursday’s alleged overflight had to do
with Hamas.
Consider the following timeline. Last Monday a Kassam rocket slammed
into the courtyard of a day care center in Sderot, sending a dozen
kids to the hospital to be treated for trauma. Two days later,
the security cabinet met pledged to "continue intensive military
operations against all those involved in launching rockets and in
perpetrating other terrorist actions.
Nobody among those responsible for terrorism will be immune."
And then on Thursday, the IAF allegedly, in what seems to be an
obvious attempt to draw attention to itself, broke the sound barrier
over Syria.
If, indeed, Israel was doing little more than "talking Turkish" with
the Syrians, then why the Turkish Foreign Minister’s sharp tone,
and why demarches registered with Israeli diplomats in Ankara and
demands for clarification of what happened?
While some are suggesting that Turkey’s tone is a manifestation of its
anger at the Anti-Defamation League’s decision to reverse its stand
on the massacres of Armenians during World War I and refer to them
as genocide, the more plausible explanation has more to do with Iran.
According to this reasoning, Turkey needs to protest loudly and clearly
the possible violation of its airspace now because it is thinking
that at some point Israel might attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.
In that eventuality, Turkey does not want to be blamed for letting
Israeli planes use its airspace. And therefore, it may now just be
building deniability.