TURKEY LINES UP ALONGSIDE SYRIA TO CONDEMN ISRAELI INCURSIONS
By Gareth Jenkins
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan’s blunt condemnation of an
alleged violation of the Turkey’s airspace by Israeli warplanes has
dealt another blow to already deteriorating relations between the
two countries.
In 1996 a military training agreement between Israel and Turkey was
hailed by many as heralding a new strategic alignment in the eastern
Mediterranean. Over the years that followed Israeli jets regularly used
the Turkish air force base in Konya for training missions while Turkish
pilots underwent specialized training in facilities belonging to the
Israeli Air Force (IAF) in the Negev Desert. There was also extensive
cooperation in the defense industry, with Israeli firms receiving a
string of lucrative defense contracts. American Jewish lobby groups
became Turkey’s strongest supporters in Washington. However, plans to
underpin the relationship by transporting Turkish water to Israel came
to nothing. While a number of disagreements over defense contracts,
and allegation of corruption involving Israeli defense suppliers,
soured relations between the two countries’ militaries.
Relations began to cool rapidly following the victory of the moderate
Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Turkish general
election of November 2002. Although the AKP’s leaders publicly
reaffirmed Turkey’s commitment to friendship with Israel, much
of the party’s grassroots support remained simply and viscerally
anti-Semitic. After taking power, the AKP downplayed ties with Israel,
while trying to form a closer relationship with other Muslim states
in the Middle East, particularly its neighbors Syria and Iran. The
last five years have seen an unprecedented increase in bilateral
contacts and AKP leaders have become frequent visitors to both Damascus
and Tehran.
On September 6, after the Syrian government claimed that Israeli
warplanes had overflown its territory and dropped munitions onto
deserted areas, fuel tanks belonging to IAF warplanes were found on
the Turkish side of the country’s border with Syria. The assumption
is that they were jettisoned in order to increase the IAF planes’
maneuverability as they sought to avoid Syrian ground fire.
On September 6, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement
supporting the Syrian protests and informing the Israeli government
that Ankara took "a harsh view of the invasion of Syrian airspace by
the IAF" (Hurriyet, Milliyet, September 7).
On September 9, Syrian Foreign Minister Wallid Moallem flew to Ankara
to seek Turkish support and met with Babacan, Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul (Sabah, September 11). On
September 10, Moallem and Babacan held a joint conference to condemn
the IAF’s incursions on September 6.
The exact circumstances in which the IAF fuel tanks were deposited
on Turkish territory remain unclear: not least whether the warplanes
themselves entered Turkish airspace while flying close to the border
or whether the tanks were carried across the border by their own
momentum after being jettisoned. However, standing alongside Moallem,
Babacan strongly condemned the incident.
"This is an unacceptable development for us," he said.
"We would like all the countries in the region to respect the sovereign
rights of other countries and be meticulous in avoiding taking any
steps that might create tensions. A wide-ranging investigation is being
conducted into this matter. The country in question has been asked
to provide an explanation in the very near future and the necessary
contacts with Israel have been initiated. Turkey is a country which
strives for peace and stability. It expects the other countries in
the region to show mutual respect and conduct their relations on the
basis of trust" (Hurriyet, September 11).
The tensions over the Israeli over flights come less than a month
after the U.S.-based Jewish lobby group the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL) caused outrage in Turkey by announcing that it now accepted
that the massacres and deportations of the Armenians by the Ottoman
authorities in 1915-16 constituted a genocide.
The accusation has always been strongly denied by Ankara, which,
in the face of considerable evidence to the contrary, has preferred
to characterize the events of 1915-16 as the product of an Armenian
uprising.
Israeli diplomats in Ankara have been circumspect in their reaction
to Babacan’s denouncement. "When it comes to Syria, we can remain
silent. But we owe the Turks an explanation," said Alon Liel, Israel’s
ambassador to Turkey (Sabah, September 11).
However, inside Israel, reactions have been less restrained. Several
commentators have noted that Turkey repeatedly staged incursions
into northern Iraq in 1990s in pursuit of members of the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) and still has a brigade permanently deployed
inside northern Iraq. In addition, Turkish F-16s frequently violate
Iraqi airspace during bombing and reconnaissance missions against
PKK militants (Jerusalem Post, September 11).