Thawing relations
October 28, 2009
The latest chapter in increasingly ugly relations between Turkey and Israel - once close allies - centers around a Turkish TV series. Israeli soldiers are shown murdering Palestinian children. One of them smiles at a soldier, but he shoots her in cold blood.
The program sparked outrage in Tel Aviv, especially since it appeared on state television. The Turkish government said that it could not interfere with programming.
Earlier this month Turkey banned Israeli jets from participating - as they had in the past - in a Turkish military exercise.
A new bilateral relationship
"Turkish public opinion could not agree with the fact that Israeli aircraft would be training on Turkish territory, while at the same time there are gross human rights violations being committed in Gaza," Suat Kiniklioglu, a spokesman for the Turkish parliamentary committee on foreign affairs said.
"Given the current state of relations, it is difficult to describe it as a strategic relationship anymore. It is a relationship that maybe was strategic in the past, but it's probably downgraded to a more ordinary bilateral relationship," he added.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly condemned Israel's treatment of Palestinians, even accusing the Israelis of using weapons of mass destruction against Gaza. But the tough stance is causing concern among Turkey's allies, both in Europe and in the US.
US congressman Robert Wexler, traditionally a supporter of Turkey, has attacked Prime Minister Erdogan for harboring a double standard.
"Where's the outrage when the prime minister talks about no tolerance for terror?" Wexler asked. "The terror in this region is created by Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza! Where was the outrage for years as there were strikes against civilian targets in Israel?"
Syria's impact on Turkey-Israeli relations
The basis for Turkey's close political and military relationship with Israel was a common enemy they shared in the 1990s: Syria.
Damascus, at that time, was providing protection for Abdullah Ocalan, whose Kurdish rebel movement, the PKK, was fighting the Turkish state. But with the support of Israel, Turkey successfully forced the Syrians to expel Ocalan, which resulted in his capture. That incident paved the way for a rapid improvement in its relations with Syria.
"We've come into a remarkable time period, where Turkey and Syria enjoy extremely cordial relations," said Kiniklioglu. "This has probably structurally lessened the need for Turkey and Israel to be [as] close as they were in the 90s."
Analysts say the political and military strategic alliance which once existed between Turkey and Israel was the most powerful alliance in the region. But for now at least, those days seem to be over.
With Erdogan working hard to improve relations with Syria, Iraq, and even Iran - as his recent visit to Tehran shows - few people see much chance of a renewal of that alliance anytime soon.
Author: Dorian Jones, Istanbul (vj)
Editor: Nancy Isenson