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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Turkey’s Attempt to Fix Ties with Israel




Not a while ago, I read this report by this professor regarding how Turkey does not need Israel. The professor even went further to claim that Turkey does not need the West either. He even claimed that it is the West who needs Turkey because Turkey is the bridge between the West and the Muslim Middle East. The professor argued his case through cultural and economic stand point, none of which in my opinion has any basis. It was a simple wishful Anti-Israel thinking to justify an Islamic takeover of Turkey.
Oh well, as time went on, it was proven to be false. For those who are not my friends on Facebook, I did not write anything about it on my blog. However, I argued on my Facebook that Turkey will have to backtrack no matter what the results is or how the world reacts to Flotilla incident. I predicted that the world and especially Europe are taking notes about Turkey’s involvement. I must confess that I did not expect how soon that prediction would come true.
Here is the News Article. As it is shown, Turkey has to shift its policy. Turkey had no other choice but to be friends with Israel. As much as Erdogan would love to destroy that alliance, Turkey’s role as a key figure in the Middle East is directly tied with its alliance with Israel. Even at this point that Turkey is trying to make friendly gestures toward Israel, members of Congress and Jewish leaders do not trust Erdogan and the reason for it is very clear. Erdogan comes from a party with Islamic background and tenancies. Erdogan was also suspected of being an Islamist before he was even elected. His harsh criticism of Israel resembles rhetoric from Iran and other terrorist harboring nations who use Islam as a tool for legitimacy. At the same time, Erdogan had the audacity and of course out of pure stupidity to claim that Israel’s policy toward Palestinians is worst than what is going on in Darfur where more than 100,000 people have been brutally murdered by Arab/Muslim militias. Of course, the only reason he is not condemning the crimes in Darfur just like other Leftists’ or Arab leaders is due to the fact that the group who is committing all the crime happens to be Muslims. Erdogan claims that his support for Palestinian is notioned in his thirst for humanity and human rights. However, it does not take an idiot to see that Erdogan is a closet Islamist and his biased views toward Israel is rooted in his religious beliefs that Israel does not have the right to exist in what he claims to be a Muslim land.
Of course, this view is shared with a lot of pro-Palestinian Muslim supporters who simply do not care for the living condition of Palestinians. Perfect example of this is some Iranian students in Diaspora who are die hard Pro-Palestinian fans. When you ask them, what Arabs have done for you that you support their terrorist and fraudulent cause like that; their only response is because “I support Human Rights for all people.” However, in their blogs or publications, you do not see a word condemning what is happening in Darfur. When you call them out as to why have you dedicated most of your blogs to condemn Israel and not a word about what is going on in Darfur, they simply respond, “I don’t have time to condemn every Human Right violation in the world.”
As it is shown, people like Erdogan and those bloggers are fueled not by love for Human Rights, rather than it is hatred. It is the hatred of Jews and the Jewish State that motivates these people to act the way they do, to say things that they say, and believe what they believe. I remember, after Flotilla incident, CNN was interviewing this Persian girl who was on Flotilla about what took place. The girl started just pure Anti-Israel rants and lies about what had taken place. Of course, this was right before Israel releases the footages from what had happened. She said lie after lie about how Israel entered the ship opening fire indiscriminately, without any warning, and how ruthless the soldiers were after boarding the ship. Later it was shown that it was the terrorist passenger of the love boat who attacked and attempted to lynch the commandos that boarded the ship with paint-guns. As it is obvious, the hatred of Jews and Israel motivates a person to go on national T.V and lie like that to justify a cause. People like Erdogan are not motivated by love for Human Rights. They are motivated by hatred.
This hatred is the reason why U.S. Congress and American Jews do not trust Erdogan and people like him. At the end, it will take a lot more for Turkey to restore its reputation in the world stage as a serious key figure. It is irrelevant how economically powerful they are in the region, if they choose to behave like Iran and other terrorist nations, they will simply lose their status. That also goes against what Atta Turk had wished for Turkey. What Erdogan did toward Israel was incredibly stupid and of course it was financed by Iran. A lot of people suspect that Erdogan and Turkey will pay a heavy price for it. Erdogan is incredibly popular in Turkey and of course that is thanks to hatred of Jews and Israel in Turkey. However, Europe and the U.S will not trust Turkey for a long time as an ally. So the last question is, was it really worth for Erdogan to defame Israel (make no mistake, what he did to defame Israel was brilliant-no body caused Israel that much damage like what Erdogan did) given the current results for Turkey? If you ask me, he will certainly do it again.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Ben, I read your article and was hoping to understand just why Turkey needs to mend relations with Israel. Maybe I'm just not too smart about geopolitics but I still don't get it. What is the reason why Turkey is dependent on good relations with Israel? I didn't find that in your otherwise interesting article.

I also have a small suggestion. I've seen several Israeli writers use the term "lynch" or "attempted lynching" when describing the actions of the Marmara jihadists.

When discussing specific acts of violence, in the US, "lynching" usually refers specifically to murdering someone by hanging them by the neck or "stringing them up" as it's called in old Westerns.

They beat the IDF soldiers and they shot them and knifed them but I haven't seen any footage or claims of an actual lynching. Use of a different term might save some confusion for your US readers.

Ben Kahen, ESQ. said...

Hey
You are right, I didn't say why Turkey needs to fix the situtation. The reason that Turkey has to fix it is because their military is heavily depended on U.S Military for their military equipment and also to maintain their edge in the region. Everybody knows that no matter how peaceful your neighbors are in the middle east, you still need to maintain a superb military due to unpredictable nature of the region. Also, military superiority will affect all aspects of relations in the regions even if you never have to use that military. In the region, Turkey is fighting PKK for a long time.
The fact that Turkish military is depended on U.S will cause Turkish military to take action if things are not fixed with Israel. Why? The reason is very simple, Congress is asking question with regards to why are we selling arms to a country that is getting so close to Iran which is a terrorist nation. At the same time, there are rumors about Turkey creating ties with Hezbollah and creating routs for their arms to be driven through Turkey to Syria to Lebanon. Another reason why Turkey will need U.S in the region is simply due to the fact that the last thing Turkey needs is U.S. recognizing PKK and their fight. They simply do not want to deal with that.
Although Turkish military generals have been crippled by Erdogan, they still maintain a lot of power in Turkey and if things do not improve, they will take action against Erdogan.
About Lynching: I am referring to the incident that happened in 2001 when two Israeli soldier were thrown off a building, mutilated and then burned to death. A lot of media outlet called that lynching, and what took place on that ship was a lot similar and if other soldiers hadn't responded with deadly force, they would have repeated the same thing.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Ben for the detailed explanation. I kind of thought it had to do with US support of their military but wasn't quite sure. I perhaps naively wondered if Iran wouldn't be happy to provide whatever weapons they needed if we didn't. I do understand that despite the Iran-Turkey-Venezuela coziness lately that Iran and Turkey are regional competitors for Muslim allegiance. And then there's Iran being 90% Shia and Turkey about 75% Sunni. Thanks again, Ray in Seattle

Ben Kahen, ESQ. said...

Well, yeah Iran would happily fill the void, but what is the comparison between F22 and Iranian weaponry?! There is almost none! Iranian weapons are basically still 60s and 50s technology. Their missile program is still from 70s. Now compare that to U.S weapon that are a lot better in every form possible. At the same time, even though they want a muslim alliance, it is Erdogan and his Islamic party that wants it. The military wants the exact opposite. Therefore, Erdogans know that he cannot agitate the army anymore.
Turkey wants a bigger role in the region and by making alliance with Iran, they thought they would grab Europe's support and ultimately force U.S to agree with them and they could provide a situation. The only thing is that the Europe is fed up with Iran and its tactice they have used in nuclear negotiation. Europe has been dealing with Iran for over 8 years now and nothing has come out of it. They don't want Turkey to add another couple of years into it. That's why Turkey was simply left alone.

Anonymous said...

I see your point about the military comparison. But Turkey has always been a puzzle to me. I have a US friend who taught school there on an exchange program and she really liked being there. Yet, a guy like Erdogan gets into power somehow - he had to have gotten some votes - and the military seems to go along. I understand he has purged the military of many officers who might have opposed him - and this is how it's done in Islamist societies. The first order of business upon taking power is to purge and neuter the opposition - and then build up several layers of secret police protection.

You say that he doesn't want to further "agitate" the military? It seems to me the military has lost the ability to do anything against him - or they would have by now. I guess I don't understand what is preventing him from assuming a role as Turkey's Ayatollah or Turkey's Saddam Hussein. I suspect that's his long range goal but must not tighten the noose on his own society too quickly (the frog in the cook pot example) but with patience and a slow tightening of the noose (there's that lynching metaphor again) before he can gain the almost complete freedom to act that Iran's ayatollahs have.

I just hope the good people of Turkey find a way out of this before it's too late.

Ray in Seattle

Ben Kahen, ESQ. said...

There are different type of people in every country. A lot of times, we don't see the true inner feeling of people, however anytime faith has been put on the table, no matter how secular the society has been, muslim countries have chosen faith. Iran was the first country to give this a try after the revolution, and after 30 years, it is still puzzling that there is still a chance the Iranian might go with an Islamic Regime even after such a disasterous 30 years. In Turkey, AttaTurk new the Islamic tendacies, and that's why he designed a country that was incredibly ruthless to Islam. For years, military had zero tolerance for Islam, but they ease up on it thinking it is getting better.
The military didn't really do anything about it because the military does not want to loose the citizens support. Right now, if the military would have stepped up to Erdogans with regards to Israel, the Turkish population would rise up against the military and calling it Israeli Bitch. In the middle east, you would rather be anything but Israel's bitch. However, now the relation with the U.S is going south as a result of it. The military under no circumstances can or will tolerate that because U.S is the key to Turkish prosperity and success.
Another issue is that the military does not want to be considered a terrorist harboring force in the region and they enjoy a lot of respect in Nato. However recently due to Erdogans policy a lot of queetions has been asked and it is affecting Turkish relations with other countries. If it was only with Israel, Turkey would not have cared much about it and the military would not really want to get involved. However, at this point, there is a policy that is being designed, there is a path being chosen, it is a culture that is being born and it is rooted in the religion and for that, the military has zero tolerance. Erdogans knows this and quickly he is toning down his policies toward Israel at least in world's stage.