TURKEY MUST RESTORE ‘TRUST’ FOR ISRAEL-SYRIA MEDIATION
Fulya Ozerkan

Hurriyet
March 24 2010
Turkey

Turkey must regain Israeli trust to resume the indirect negotiations
between Israel and Syria that were halted by last year’s Gaza war,
according to the former leader of an influential pro-Israel lobby in
the United States.

"Until the flare-up between Ankara and Jerusalem last year, the
indirect talks were proceeding in the direction of a conclusion. Trust
must be re-established for Turkey to play its rightful regional
leadership role," Tom Dine, former executive director of the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, told the Hurriyet Daily
News & Economic Review in an interview late Tuesday.

AIPAC, a high-profile, pro-Israel lobbying organization, will hold
a major convention this week in Washington, with over 7,000 people
expected to attend.

Turkey hosted four rounds of indirect talks between Israel and Syria
in 2008 but they were suspended following the resignation of Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in September that year and the Gaza war.

Dine, an advocate of U.S. engagement with Syria, sought to establish
networks in Washington and conducted intense meetings in Damascus to
lay the groundwork for improved relationship between Syria and the U.S.

"I was publicly supportive of Turkey’s role as the host and mediator
of the previous indirect talks. Because I was deeply involved in a
U.S.-Syria Track II diplomatic effort at the same time, I was close
to what was taking place, traveling several times to both Syria and
Israel to encourage the two governments and their elites to move
forward toward a long-awaited conclusion," he said.

‘Wrong direction’

Damascus is warm to Turkish mediation but the current Israeli
government has aired reservations about Ankara’s impartiality as
bilateral ties soured due to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan’s withering and repeated criticism of Israeli policies in Gaza.

"Turkish-Israeli relations are currently moving in the wrong
direction. There is so much in common between the two societies,
so it is a shame that the direction is off course," according to Dine.

As two stable democracies in the same region, Dine said the two
neighbors share similar concerns and interests as two strong,
political-military establishments that are highly professional.

Turkey and Israel could help each other achieve two elusive but
critical goals, he said; namely, a final settlement creating two
states, Palestine and Israel, as well as a peace treaty between Syria
and Israel.

"Right now, because of current tensions and personal hurt and anger
among leaders, the two publics are feeling the strain and Turkey is not
helping push the parties [involved]," Dine said, adding that this state
of affairs has resulted in a disconnect in the eastern Mediterranean.

"I would be optimistic if both sides re-found the needed common ground
that does exist and worked on a positive, not negative, future agenda.

That is hard work but I would be optimistic if that labor were
happening," he said.

Asked if Turkey had received the Israeli lobby’s support during the
passage of an Armenian "genocide" resolution in a U.S. House panel
earlier this month, Dine said he could not speak for the "lobby,"
suggesting only that U.S.-Turkish relations should be the priority.

"U.S.-Turkey relations currently need lots of repair work and
rebuilding, bilaterally and multilaterally. Those of us who work
and participate in matters of contemporary foreign policy confront
this fact everyday in our efforts to achieve a close and trusting
relationship," he said.