Turkish reaction is audacious enough

Following 'leaking' of United Nations report on Gaza-bound Turkish ship, Ankara has expelled Israeli ambassador and suspended all military agreements with Jerusalem. A long-awaited United Nations review of Israel's 2010 raid on a Turkish-based flotilla in which nine passengers were killed has found that Israel's naval blockade of Gaza is both legal and appropriate. But it said that the way Israeli forces boarded the vessels trying to break that blockade 15 months ago was excessive and unreasonable. The 150-page also found that when Israeli commandos boarded the main ship, they faced "organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers" and were therefore required to use force for their own protection. Turkish President Abdullah Gul declared the U.N. report "null and void" for Turkey, and criticized it for describing Israel's naval blockade as "a legitimate security measure and in line with international law". Israel has indicated that it accepts the findings of the U.N. report, but reiterated that will not apologize for the raid. Turkey has long demanded an Israeli apology, compensation for the families of those who died and a scrapping of the blockade. Israel says it has not ruled out expressing regret and offering compensation. On the other hand, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said an apology and compensation would not be sufficient to return Turkey's ambassador to Tel Aviv. Israel also has to end its naval blockade of Gaza. The United Nations investigation into the events on the ship, the Mavi Marmara, which was sailing under a Turkish flag and was the largest of six vessels that were commandeered by Israeli commandos on May 31, 2010, was led by Sir Geoffrey Palmer, a former prime minister of New Zealand. He was aided by Álvaro Uribe, a former president of Colombia, along with one representative from Israel and another from Turkey.

The latest actions of Istanbul has certainly produced unprecedented crisis is relations between Turkey and Israel, impeded the US alliance with the two Arab states. In recent weeks, there has been heavy American pressure at the highest level on Israel to apologize to Turkey for the deadly results of the May 2010 "humanitarian" flotilla led by the Turkish Islamist organization IHH, in which nine Turkish citizens were killed during their violent opposition to the Israeli marines' operation to stop their attempt to breach the Gaza blockade. Following the demand of apology from Jerusalem for the incident, the Israeli government, or at least part of it, is not convinced that the apology will restore relations, and is worried that the legitimacy it would give to the Turkish behavior would invite international judicial measures against Israeli politicians and military personnel. On the highest strategic level, the US insistence on an apology stems from its shaky regional standing, as the Arab Spring seems to be leading to a more Islamist, anti-American Middle East. Moreover, after the Western intervention in Libya produced mixed operational results and political woes for President Barack Obama at home, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government seems to be the only international actor capable of confronting the Assad regime tangled in the bloody repression of the Syrian people.

Here, we need to remember one point, besides Erdogan's ultimatum to Israel for "apology and compensate", there is the threat that if Israel does not remove the embargo on Gaza, it is not possible for Turkey and Israeli relations to improve. This sine qua non condition clearly shows that the Turkish President [who is planning to visit Gaza in the near future] is working decisively to strengthen his country's relations with mega-terrorist group Hamas, and thus to support one of the main obstacles to a peace process between Israel and Palestine. Weeks back Usama Hamdan, responsible for Hamas's international relations, declared during an international conference on "resistance" held in Cairo with the support of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood: "The [Palestinian-Israeli] conflict will never come to an end until Israel comes to an end … We will never recognize Israel, and today I say more than that, [I say that] Israel completely doesn't exist in our political or intellectual dictionary."

And while Turkey lately condemned a decision to authorize the construction of more than 900 apartments in east Jerusalem, its government issued no condemnation for the deadly August 18 Palestinian terrorist attack in Israel's South. Ironically, the same day, the Turkish air force bombed "60 pre-determined targets belonging to the separatist [PKK] organization" in Iraq, and its artillery struck at 168 additional targets with "intense" fire. One thing should be taken into consideration here that, Turkey's firm policy in opposing the Assad regime's repression is not so much an alignment with Western and US positions as a result of the fear that instability in Syria, the killing of so many Sunnis by an Alawite regime, and the strong revival of the Kurdish problem and PKK terrorism inside Turkey could jeopardize the AKP government's efforts to achieve regional hegemony and the necessary internal economic development. In the longer term, Ankara is already preparing for a scenario in which the Muslim Brotherhood becomes the next ruler in Syria [and in Egypt], as Hamas is today. This would improve Turkey's regional status even more, but on a more Islamist basis, as competitor to the other Islamist hegemon, Iran.

Meanwhile, despite the international media's report on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's inevitable fall following massive movements by the Islamist forces, according to members of a team of international journalists, commoners in Syria are already determined of "not becoming another Libya". The delegation members concluded that, reports by international media on Syrian government is "clearly biased". Also it is important to remember that, considering Syria's pivotal position in the eastern Mediterranean, any precipitate international action to provoke change in that country would affect the entire region, including Israel. It also should be taken into note that, Syria is today a secular country amid the raging tide of Islamism in the entire Arab world. The fracturing of this ethos will have profound negative consequences for the diverse populations of the region. Moreover, the consequences of fall of regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and lately Libya should be taken into active considerations, as in all of these countries, autocratic dictators with total secularist state-policies have been slipped into the grips of Islamists, most of whom are inclined towards terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and Hamas.

It is though not yet clear to read the mind of Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and to understand what is at their back of mind, it is evidently proved by now that, Turkish government is taking "extra enthusiasm" in putting undue pressure on Israel as well wishes to strengthen hands of Hamas terrorists. Any government's action, which certainly goes in favor of such notorious outfits are audacious enough.

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Turkish reaction is audacious enough

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