Turkey

'With Erdogan in place Turkey can't be an ally'

Anshel Pfeffer — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:00:53 +0100

A draft agreement between Israel and Turkey over compensation for the families of the nine Turkish citizens killed three years ago on the Mavi Marmara ferry was prepared last week in talks in Ankara between representatives of the two nations.

According to sources in both countries, Israel has agreed to pay around $10 million (£6.4m) in addition to the apology it issued Turkey two months ago. In return, the Turkish parliament will pass legislation preventing the Marmara families from suing Israeli officers or officials in court.

It is not clear when the agreement will be finalised but Israeli and Turkish diplomats are optimistic that the talks are on track.

Meanwhile, the resumption of diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey is proceeding very slowly.

A senior Israeli official said this week: “It was crucial to renew relations but it will take a long time for them to return to anything near what we used to have.”

There is no date so far for the arrival of new ambassadors in either capital, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is still planning to visit Gaza at the end of the month, against Israel’s wishes, and despite a request from the US to postpone the visit.

US Secretary of State John Kerry floated the idea that Turkey should serve again as a broker between Israel and the Palestinians but, so far, Israeli leaders have been cool towards the idea on account of Ankara’s close relations with Hamas.

The only real progress seems to have been in quiet talks over extending the pipeline that takes Azerbaijani oil to the Turkish port of Ceyhan and then under the sea to Israel. But no agreement on the pipeline will be announced until the Marmara talks are concluded and a deal signed.

“We can’t assume for the time being that Turkey is an ally,” said a senior Israeli defence official this week.

“For now, they are still a potential rival, if not an enemy. As [long as] Erdogan is in charge there, there won’t be friendly relations.”

Israeli military chiefs are worried that some central figures in the defence establishment in Ankara, including highly placed members of the intelligence service, have close ties to the Iranian regime.

A report last week in the British media that Israel is seeking a base in Turkey for a potential strike on Iran was dismissed by Israeli officials as being “as far away from reality as possible”.

What apology? Turkey blocks Israel détente

Anshel Pfeffer — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:00:48 +0100

Israel’s apology to Turkey in relation to the deaths of nine of its citizens in the Gaza flotilla incident was supposed to have paved the way to a rapprochement between the two former allies, but the Turkish government now appears to be dragging its feet.

A number of statements and developments over the past two weeks indicate that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not interested — for now — in repairing relations.

This week, Mr Erdogan told journalists that the Israeli embassy in Ankara would not reopen because, he claimed, Israel had broken its promises on easing the closure on Gaza.

This came in the wake of a previous announcement that Mr Erdogan would be visiting the Gaza Strip next month.
In addition, negotiations between Israel and Turkey on compensation for the families of the Turkish activists killed when fighting the Israeli commandos taking over the Mavi Marmara ferry have yet to begin.

Turkish officials warned Israel in the Hurriyet newspaper against “dirty bargaining” over the level of compensation. In addition, Turkey still refuses to convene Nato’s Mediterranean Dialogue group, which includes Israel and has not met for five years.

Mr Erdogan is to meet US President Barack Obama next month in what is seen in Washington as an important stage in shoring up Turkey’s support for Nato and Western interests.

Despite the presidential meeting, Mr Erdogan has refused American requests to postpone his visit to Gaza indefinitely. The Turkish Prime Minister announced over the weekend that he would be visiting Gaza in late May, ostensibly to inspect whether or not Israel is keeping its commitment to reduce the closure of the Strip.
While some Israeli and American officials expressed the hope that he would also visit Israel to accelerate the thaw in relations, the prospects for such a visit for now seem unlikely.

The Erdogan government is working to boost Hamas’s diplomatic profile and is also being used as a quiet back-channel between the American administration and the Islamic movement in Gaza. In his recent visit to Istanbul, Secretary of State John Kerry asked the Turks to pressure Hamas into recognising Israel. Meanwhile, Ankara is also making sure that its relations with the rival, Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in Ramallah remain strong.

This week, Turkey’s consul-general in East Jerusalem presented his credentials to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, making Turkey the first country to have an official ambassador to Palestine. No other country has taken this step since the decision of the United Nations to upgrade Palestine’s status last year. In doing so, Mr Erdogan is making sure that an ambassador to the Palestinians is installed well before Israel gets a Turkish envoy.

Kerry arrives in Israel to kick-start peace process

Zoe Winograd — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:26:37 +0100

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Israel to broker negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Mr Kerry is expected to take part in the Yom Hashoah ceremony at Yad Vashem this morning followed by a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres in the afternoon.

Last night Mr Kerry met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah where the two agreed that the PA would cease unilateral measures at the United Nations for the next eight to 12 weeks. Mr Kerry has plans to speak to other Palestinian officials today.

Before arriving in Israel, Mr Kerry visited Istanbul where he met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The meeting reinforced efforts made by US President Barack Obama last month to strengthen ties between Israel and Turkey.

Mr Kerry said about Turkey and Israel: “We would like to see this relationship that is important to stability in the Middle East and critical to the peace process ... get back on track in its full measure.”

How burning Syria drove Israel and Turkey together

Anshel Pfeffer — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:45:00 +0000

Four weeks ago, when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan equated Zionism with fascism and called it a crime against humanity at a conference in Vienna, it seemed that relations between Israel and Turkey had reached their lowest ebb.

But without meaning to, Mr Erdogan had created an opening for a new American initiative to bring the two nations back together.

On a scheduled visit to Ankara earlier this month, State Secretary John Kerry criticised his host’s remark in stern terms, and his aides made it clear that the estrangement of America’s two main allies in the region had gone on long enough.

Behind the scenes, there were already signs of a quiet rapprochement. The Israeli government had agreed to supply electronic warfare systems for US-built Awacs aircraft being purchased by the Turkish Air Force, a project which had been held up for over two years. Talks had resumed over extending the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline — the source of most of Israel’s crucial Azerbaijani oil imports — from Turkey’s shores to Ashdod Port. And all the while, the Syrian Civil War has continued to burn, forcing the Turkish administration to recalibrate its previous policy of closer ties with the Syria-Iran axis and distance from Israel.

In his telephone call to Mr Erdogan, brokered by President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologised for the killing of nine Turkish activists on the Mavi Marmara ferry during the takeover of the Gaza flotilla in 2010, and agreed on a gradual resumption of full diplomatic ties. This was, above all, an affirmation of the fact that in the current regional balance, Israel and Turkey have no choice but to co-operate. Both countries need each other — there are too many strategic, economic and political assets at risk for them to be at constant loggerheads. Turkey’s aspirations to be a regional power still requires American backing and the support of the less radical and more stable governments in the region.

So why did it take so long? Both Mr Netanyahu and Mr Erdogan are cautious and suspicious, bordering on paranoid. Both wanted or needed the support of partners and allies — in Mr Netanyahu’s case he was constrained by the presence of former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman in his cabinet. Mr Lieberman, still powerful but for now forced out of the government, attacked the Israeli apology but he is focused on his court case and will not spark a political showdown over this.

Mr Erdogan has portrayed himself over the past four years as the patron of the Palestinians in Gaza. He is now promising to visit the Strip next month, but it will be merely a symbolic gesture because the deal with Israel does not include an easing of the partial blockade.

Friday’s agreement has been on the table for at least a year, but it took a presidential visit, elections in Israel and Mr Erdogan’s intemperate remarks to finally bring the two protagonists to the phone.

A return to the heady days of the Israeli-Turkish strategic alliance, if it happens, will be slow. There is still a great deal of suspicion between the two governments and Israel has intensified its military ties with Turkey’s rival, Greece. In addition, many of the security chiefs in Ankara are now viewed as being too close to Tehran to be involved in any meaningful co-operation. But the main obstacle has finally been removed and, for the first time since 2008, there is a prospect of the relationship warming up.

Israel apologises to Turkey for Gaza flotilla deaths

Marcus Dysch — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 15:38:03 +0000

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly apologised to his Turkish counterpart for the deaths of Turkish citizens in the Gaza flotilla incident.

Mr Netanyahu is said to have called Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shortly before US president Barack Obama left Israel on Friday afternoon.

The Israeli and Turkish leaders have not spoken for more than two years following the Mavi Marmara incident in May 2010. Nine Turkish anti-Israel activists were killed when Israeli forces stormed the ship.

Reuters reported a US official saying that Mr Erdogan had accepted Mr Netanyahu's apology and agreed that the countries should normalise relations. It is thought Israel will compensate the families of those who died.

Mr Obama released a statement welcoming the call. He said: "The United States deeply values our close partnerships with both Turkey and Israel, and we attach great importance to the restoration of positive relations between them in order to advance regional peace and security.

"I am hopeful that today's exchange between the two leaders will enable them to engage in deeper cooperation on this and a range of other challenges and opportunities."

Turkey had long demanded an apology for the flotilla deaths, compensation for bereaved families, and an end to the blockade of Gaza.

The affair had plunged relations between the two countries to their lowest point. In September 2011, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and formally downgraded diplomatic ties.

Public anger in Israel led to widespread cancellations of summer holidays in Turkish resorts.

Last summer it was reported that British Prime Minister David Cameron had passed on a personal message from Mr Netanyahu to Mr Erdogan when the latter came to London to attend the Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Why Erdogan is taking his anti-Israel drive to next level

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:00:54 +0000

Sadly, there was nothing unique about Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comment last week that Zionism is a “crime against humanity”.

Before Israel’s war with Gaza in 2008/2009, politicians and media outlets occasionally weighed in against Israel — in addition to the regular attacks from within Islamist circles — but the invective was not co-ordinated by the state. However, since Operation Cast Lead and in the wake of the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010 in which nine Turkish activists died after Israeli commandos stormed their boat, anti-Israel rhetoric has begun to form part of a long-term political strategy.

Today, Mr Erdogan’s verbal assaults on Israel are promoted by his Justice and Development Party (AKP), with the help of state-co-opted media outlets. The result over the past two years has been more antisemitism in the press at large and an increasing number of attacks on Jewish-owned property.

One goal of the campaign has been to demonise Israel as barbaric and uncivilised, and to question the historical basis for its existence. Mainly, however, the aim has been to establish Turkey, under the leadership of the AKP, as the leader of the Sunni Muslim world, a regional superpower and the key to world peace and stability.

The campaign is a natural extension of the nationalist and religious thinking that undergirds the AKP but also reflects the party’s desire to position itself as a representative of oppressed Muslims all over the world.

Mr Erdogan’s rhetoric, which is designed as much to boost his popularity at home as for international consumption, is carefully calibrated to reflect the common view in the Islamic world that global governments and institutions are discriminating against Muslims under the guise of “Western universalism”.

Historically, legal limitations on internal debates involving religion in Turkey have meant that foreign affairs was one arena where Islamic ideology could get a hearing. Since coming to power, Mr Erdogan has been eager to take advantage of that relative freedom to manufacture consent for his anti-Israel strategy.

Turkey was formerly Israel’s closest Muslim ally but, with the ever-increasing international pressure on Israel, the Erdogan government has seen an opportunity to boost Turkey’s standing in forums such as the UN — where last year the General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestinian membership.

Backed up by an economy still performing relatively well, Mr Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu feel free to push a bold new Turkey on the international stage: hawkish on Cyprus, ever-less bothered by a crisis-ridden EU and trashing an ever-more isolated Israel.

Kerry to meet Turkish PM about anti-Zionist statement

Anna Sheinman — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:52:19 +0000

US Secretary of State John Kerry is to raise concerns directly with the Turkish Prime Minister for saying that Zionism is a “crime against humanity” on par with antisemitism and fascism, Reuters has reported.

Speaking at a United Nations event in Vienna on Wednesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke about the discrimination faced by Muslims, then went on to say: “We should be striving to better understand the culture and beliefs of others, but instead we see that people act based on prejudice and exclude others and despise them.”

He continued: “And that is why it is necessary that we must consider — just like Zionism or antisemitism or fascism — Islamophobia as a crime against humanity.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned what he called the “dark and false statement”.

Mr Kerry is currently in Turkey’s capital, Ankara , to discuss the crisis in Syria with Turkish leaders.

Schwarzenegger wants Turkish Hitler poster terminated

Jennifer Lipman — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:08:19 +0000

Arnold Schwarzenegger has labelled an exhibit in a Turkish shopping centre that links his name with that of Adolf Hitler "repugnant".

The actor and former governor of California expressed outrage after being alerted to the poster at the Sapphire Mall in Istanbul, Turkey, which asks shoppers "Who would you like to meet?".

The poster then lists names including Turkish independence hero Ataturk and Soviet revolutionary Lenin, as well as other prominent figures such as singer Michael Jackson.

Below all the names there is a large image of the Nazi leader, which has prompted Mr Schwarzenegger to ask for his name to be removed from the list.

He asked Marvin Hier, dean of the human rights organisation the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, to contact the shopping centre and ask for "the offensive exhibit" to be deleted.

"As someone who despises everything that Hitler stood for, it is repugnant to me to have my name in any way associated with history's greatest criminal, responsible for the murder of more than six million Jews, along with millions of other victims."

The Austrian-born actor, who stars in the forthcoming film "The Last Stand", has supported a number of causes of Jewish importance in the past, including, when governor, joining a rally calling for Hamas to release Gilad Shalit.

Fresh fears over Syrian chemical weapons

Anshel Pfeffer — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:00:27 +0000

Reports that the Syrian regime may be about to deploy chemical weapons have raised concerns in the region that the civil war in the country may be entering an even bloodier stage.

Western intelligence agencies have received information that Syrian forces have begun carrying out the necessary steps to use chemical weapons in the field. These reports have led to public warnings by Western leaders, including Foreign Minister William Hague, of “serious consequences” if these weapons are used.

The fear of chemical weapons spurred Nato to approve, at a meeting of the Alliance’s foreign ministers on Tuesday, the deployment of Patriot surface-to-air missiles along Turkey’s south-eastern borders.

Turkey’s previously close relations with Syria have rapidly deteriorated and many of the weapons and volunteers reaching rebel fighters in Syria have arrived via the Turkish border. Despite this, Turkey has refrained from attacking Syria.

Turkey is not the only neighbour of Syria worried about the potential use of chemical weapons. The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg reported this week that there had been two approaches by Israeli “intelligence officials” to the Jordanian government in recent months seeking an agreement to an Israeli operation against Syrian chemical weapons bases near the Jordanian border. According to Mr Goldberg, these requests were declined.

Senior Israeli commanders have warned in the past that Israel would be forced to act if chemical weapons were handed over to Hizbollah or other organisations in the region. Following these warnings, the Syrian regime sent assurances, via a third party, that the chemical weapons were secure. So far this week, there has been silence on the issue from Israeli sources but the situation is being monitored closely.

Jordan could be the base for a military offensive against Syria’s chemical stockpiles. A US force is permanently based in Jordan, training the Jordanian army and the Palestinians Authority’s security forces.

In recent months, the force has been bolstered, ostensibly to help the Jordanians deal with the influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees but it is widely believed that this force is also ready to intervene swiftly in case the Assad regime prepares to use chemical weapons against its own people.

Israel and Turkey in new talks of reconciliation

Nathan Jeffay — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:41:04 +0000

Israel and Turkey have conducted talks in a bid to fix their fraught relationship, it was confirmed this week.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu confirmed on Sunday that the countries recently held reconciliation talks. Israeli envoy Joseph Ciechanover met Turkish Foreign Ministry Director Feridun Sinirlioğlu in Geneva.

Israeli Foreign Ministry Paul Hirschson said: “We are keen to improve the relationship.”

According to a Turkish media report, Turkey is demanding an apology for the flotilla deaths, compensation for bereaved families, and an end to the blockade of Gaza in return for normalised relations. It is believed that Israel is agreeable to the first two demands but hesitant about the third.

Bar Ilan University’s Amikam Nachmani, a specialist in Israel-Turkey relations, said that Ankara is keen to reassert its relevance in the Middle East after Cairo beat it in the scramble to mediate last week’s ceasefire, making Turkish efforts irrelevant. Securing the end of the Gaza blockade would restore Ankara’s relevance.