THE "ANATOLIA EAGLE" SOARS FAR FROM THE STAR OF DAVID
Mostafa Zein

Dar al Hayat
Tue, 13 October 2009

Ever since the Justice and Development Party came into power in Ankara,
many changes took place regarding the Turkish policy in the Middle
East that went hand in hand with the great strategic transformations
following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold
War. Turkey discovered its inner force and ability to play a role
in its surroundings, based on a reconciliation with itself and its
history that was despised by extremist nationalists. In addition to
reconciliation with itself, it strove to make a reconciliation with
the countries that emerged from the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire,
after it despised its peoples and blamed them for its lagging behind
and its failure in facing the West.

Ankara discovered that it can conciliate between its Western trend
and its relations with the United States, without passing through Tel
Aviv. This was evident in many stances by Turkish officials, which
included their objection to the launching of the US land invasion of
Iraq from their land, and their prevention of US fighters to depart
from the Angerlik base. It was also evident in their stance on the
Palestinian cause; after their support of Israel was unconditional and
criticizing it was prohibited, and after the relations between the
two countries reached the extent of military and security strategic
coordination for besieging the Arabs, many obstacles emerged in the
alliance between them. Turkey strove to maintain Iraq’s unity for
fear of witnessing the separation of the Kurds in the North and the
formation of an independent state that would reach Anatolia and Syria,
while Israel encouraged this Kurdish trend and supported it with
weapons, funds, and training in order to inconvenience Syria and Iran.

Tensions in the relations between the two countries were intensified
when Israel waved the threat of activating the Jewish lobby in the
United States for holding Ankara responsible for the Armenian massacres
if it continued to criticize its policies in Palestine. This is one
of the background elements of PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s withdrawal
from the Davos Forum to protest against Shimon Peres’s "insolence",
in addition to the continued Israeli training of the Kurds North
of Iraq. Seymour Hersh wrote in the New Yorker in 2004 that the
tensions between Turkey and Israel and Ankara’s decision to recall
its ambassador from Tel Aviv were not due to the Israeli policies in
Gaza but "to the role played by Tel Aviv North of Iraq."

Turkey’s alleviation of the weight of its relations with Tel Aviv
enables it to play the role of the great regional state in the region,
starting with the exceptional relations with Syria and Iraq, and
not ending with the historic reconciliation with Armenia, away from
the burden of the history of a new state in the region whose only
concern is to confirm itself through its permanent hostility against
this region and breaking it down to small sectarian states that are
linked to it and its policies.

With the alleviation of this burden, Ankara rejected the Israeli
attempts to besiege Iran with enemies because of its nuclear program,
announcing that it previously coexisted with the Soviet nuclear weapons
and it is currently coexisting with the Russian, Israeli, Pakistani,
and Indian weapons. It does not see any menace in Tehran’s program,
and is striving with the others to keep it peaceful, without working
on changing the regime or resorting to striking a blow against Iran,
which will have catastrophic repercussions in the region.

The most recent Turkish reply to Israel’s hostile policies in the
Middle East was its refusal to take part in the Anatolia Eagle air
maneuvers, which led to their annulment by the Uni euvers.

The "Anatolia Eagle" is soaring away from the Star of David, which
has accompanied it since the establishment of the State of Israel. So
until when will it soar?

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress