THE ISRAEL DIMENSION OF DAVOS
Today’s Zaman
Feb 5 2009
Turkey
The social sentiments provoked by what happened in Davos are so
entrenched that any discussion of the consequences or normative
appropriateness of the walkout becomes out of place.
What happened in Davos, a place that represents the "spirit of world
capitalism," can be summarized as the prime minister’s refusal to play
his part on a stage where he was expected to serve as filler. The
representatives of Israel, who adopt the role of the privileged,
the wanton child or the victim, in accordance with the international
platforms they attend, are accustomed to maintaining their haughty
behavior in a manner that reflects the gallery of sins from the West’s
past. In return for the lightening of conscience the West obtains
by allowing Jews to take revenge for the sins committed against them
by oppressing Muslims in the Middle East, such behavior by Israel is
tolerated. Having established its unrelenting grip on international
relations and international political language, Israel has never
refrained from exploiting this weakness of the West.
The Davos incident has not jolted Israel’s position. Instead, it
has been perceived as a trauma against the Israeli psychology of
immunity. This trauma has been best observed in those who regard
themselves as agents of Israel’s influence and in the masses and
victims who exaggerate Israel’s power.
In particular, Turkish critics of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
behavior at Davos have tended to underline the "risk of having offended
Israel." The fear of Israel cutting off ties with Turkey has gone
so deep in these people that it is as if Turkey didn’t exist in this
region before Israel. As this mood of "being obliged to cooperate with
Israel" clearly shows, in the eyes of these groups, which act as the
militants of Westernism in this country, Israel is a guarantee not
only in military or strategic terms, but also for integration with
Western civilization in general and the US in particular.
However, the proper question that must be asked and discussed is
whether Turkey really needs Israel. We are continually fed the
suggestion that Turkey needs Israel. Yet, Peres, who loses his
control at even the slightest criticism, needs Erdogan more than
Turkey needs Israel. In reality, other than its mental, psychological
and ideological dependence, Turkey does not need Israel’s support or
an indispensable partnership with it.
Nevertheless, since the establishment of Israel — thanks to support
from powers outside the region — Turkey has been implicitly or
explicitly forced to develop and improve relations with and lend
support to it and, in time, Turkish politicians have started to do
this voluntarily. The fact that Israel has frequently been used as an
argument in domestic politics and as a vehicle for postmodern military
coups is clear proof that Israel is being exploited by pro-Western
elites as an ideological power apparatus.
An Israel that fails to secure Turkey’s support is doomed to utter
isolation in the region. If today Ankara has replaced the Shah’s Iran,
politicians and foreign policy analysts must ponder carefully what
this means. Support from a non-Arab Muslim country in the region
is vitally important for Israel. A life-buoy service afforded by a
secular NATO member country that seeks to join the EU is far more
critical than commonly thought.
The "loss" of Turkey means to Israel a colossal gap that it cannot fill
in areas ranging from energy resources to military training. There
is no other country in the region to which its citizens can travel
without concerns, even for gambling, on their holidays.
It is not common for the Israeli government to take steps to cool
down any tension as it did after the Davos crisis. Any move toward
discussing the "Israelophobia" of the Turkish elites who claim to
have a monopoly on foreign policy and who tend to avoid discussing
even the slightest foreign policy criticism under the pretext of
national interests will mean disenchantment.
In practice, nothing will change in Turkish-Israeli relations in
the post-Davos era. But it is likely that the myth that "we must be
afraid of Israel" that Turkish elites have been trying to impose on
the nation may collapse.
Both camps are exaggerating Israel. The first group consists of those
who were victims of Israeli occupations and massacres and those who
identify themselves with those victims. The anti-Israeli sentiment
that regards Israel as invincible and almighty is as common to Turks
as it is to Arabs.
The members of the second group tend to regard this perception of
Israel as vitally important for the continuation of their ideological
and political domination. These people have long been pestering the
nation with the rubbish argument that we are in dire need of Israel.
Turkey’s need for Israel’s support in the international arena, on
matters such as the Armenian "genocide" resolution in the US, is
so unimportant that it is negligible compared to Israel’s need for
Turkey’s support. Everyone is well aware of the political processes
and interest relations that have paved the way for Turkey to become
dependent on Israel, including its armed forces, through political
maneuvers.
Turkey will gain the upper hand in bargaining with Israel to the extent
it revises its relations with Israel. Even if it launches campaigns
to discredit the Turkish government or Turkish political figures, Tel
Aviv will not have the heart to burn its bridges with Turkey. The joy
the Arab world is experiencing is indicative of the search for hope
by the masses who have grown weary of the conformist attitudes of
their leaders. If unfulfilled, this search will create deep divisions.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
