{"id":15440,"date":"2009-10-15T13:35:43","date_gmt":"2009-10-15T11:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=15440"},"modified":"2023-04-05T10:35:43","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:35:43","slug":"friends-no-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/10\/15\/friends-no-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends No More?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<h1><span>Why Turkey and Israel Have Fallen Out<\/span><\/h1>\n<div><span>By <span>Pelin Turgut \/ Istanbul<\/span> <span>Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>Turkish naval ships off the shore of the Israeli city of  Haifa are seen during a joint U.S., Israeli and Turkish military exercise on  Aug. 19, 2008 <\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>Sebastian Scheiner \/ AP<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"contentTools2\">\n<ul><span><\/p>\n<li><\/li>\n<li>\n<h4>MORE<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h5>Add to my:<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/del.icio.us\/post?url=http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/world\/article\/0,8599,1930203,00.html&amp;title=Friends%20No%20More%3F%20Why%20Turkey%20and%20Israel%20Have%20Fallen%20Out&amp;notes=For%20more%20than%20a%20decade%2C%20Turkey%20and%20Israel%20enjoyed%20an%20alliance%20that%20defied%0D%0AArab%20anger%20and%20thorny%20Middle%20East%20politics%2E%20So%20what%20happened%20to%20put%20the%0D%0Arelationship%20on%20ice%3F\">del.icio.us<\/span><\/li>\n<li>, the unlikely alliance between Turkey and Israel often  stood out. Seemingly impervious to Arab opposition and the tracts of disputed  land lying between them, the two countries had over the past decade traded  intelligence, struck billion-dollar arms deals and hosted each other&#8217;s  militaries for training sessions. Even when Turkish leaders occasionally railed  against Israel&#8217;s policies toward the Palestinians, military cooperation  continued unhindered behind the scenes, anchored by Washington across the  Atlantic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<p><\/span><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div><!-- Begin Article Side Bar --><\/p>\n<div id=\"articleSideBar\"><!-- Begin Article Side Bar Copy --><\/p>\n<div id=\"sideBarCopy\">\n<h3><span>Related<\/span><\/h3>\n<div>\n<h4><span>Video<\/span><\/h4>\n<div><span><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/video\/player\/0,32068,9018740001_1873985,00.html\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<h2><span><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/video\/player\/0,32068,9018740001_1873985,00.html\">Israel&#8217;s  Lonesome Doves<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h4><span>Photos<\/span><\/h4>\n<div><span><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/photogallery\/0,29307,1869438,00.html\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<h2><span><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/photogallery\/0,29307,1869438,00.html\">Israeli  Soldiers Sweep Into Gaza<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--BEGIN SPHERE INLINE SIDEBAR MODULE--><\/p>\n<div id=\"sphereSideBar\">\n<div>\n<h4><span>More Related<\/span><\/h4>\n<ul><span><\/p>\n<li>\n<h2><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/world\/article\/0,8599,1870188,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar\">Turkey  Could Be Key Player in Gaza Peace<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h2><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/world\/article\/0,8599,1875981,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar\">Behind  the Turkish Prime Minister\u2019s Outburst at Davos<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h2><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/world\/article\/0,8599,1871487,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar\">Is  Israel Losing the Media War in Gaza?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/li>\n<p><\/span><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--END SPHERE INLINE SIDEBAR MODULE--><!-- End Article Side Bar Copy --><\/div>\n<div id=\"quigoSideBar\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n        tiiQuigoWriteAd(755777, 1458854, 142, 225, -1);\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- End Article Side Bar --><\/p>\n<div><span>But the relationship has officially soured. On Oct. 9, Turkey decided to  exclude Israel&#8217;s air force from participating in a routine NATO war-games  exercise, code-named Anatolian Eagle, to be held just days later in the Turkish  city of Konya. War games involving multiple countries take months to organize,  and the last-minute decision was clearly unexpected. The U.S. and Italy pulled  out shortly after they heard about the snub, with Washington calling the move by  Ankara &#8220;inappropriate.&#8221; Turkey&#8217;s reason for barring Israel? Foreign Minister  Ahmet Davutoglu said his country &#8220;was showing its sensitivity.&#8221; &#8220;We hope that  the situation in Gaza will be improved, that the situation will be back to the  diplomatic track,&#8221; he said. <span><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/video\/player\/0,32068,9018740001_1873985,00.html\">(See TIME&#8217;s video &#8220;Israel&#8217;s Lonesome Doves.&#8221;)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>The friction is the latest in a relationship that has been worsening since  last December, when Turkey \u2014 predominantly Muslim but officially secular \u2014  condemned Israel&#8217;s incursion into the Gaza Strip that left 1,500 Palestinians  dead. In January, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a  debate with Israeli President Shimon Peres at a conference in Davos,  Switzerland. Wagging his finger at Peres, an emotional Erdogan accused him of  &#8220;murdering children on beaches&#8221; \u2014 an outburst that made Erdogan a hero on  streets across the Arab world. &#8220;If bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel  touched bottom after that incident, the current crisis shows that they are to  remain there for some time to come,&#8221; says Ilker Ayturk, a political science  professor at Bilkent University in Ankara.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>Another incident occurred at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City in  September, when Erdogan was the only world leader to allude to Gaza in his  speech. He also told reporters that &#8220;there should be accountability for anyone  guilty of war crimes in Gaza.&#8221; Days earlier, Davutoglu had canceled a trip to  Israel after being refused permission to visit the Gaza Strip. &#8220;Not being  allowed to visit Gaza was the last straw,&#8221; says Sahin Alpay, a political science  professor at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul. &#8220;That, combined with the Gaza  attacks last year and the [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu  government&#8217;s refusal to freeze settlement activity in the West Bank \u2014 they all  added up.&#8221; <span><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/video\/player\/0,32068,17593714001_1887745,00.html\">(See TIME&#8217;s video &#8220;Egyptians on the Egypt-Israel Peace  Treaty.&#8221;)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>The two countries have sparred before, but Turkish criticism of Israel has  grown more forceful since Erdogan&#8217;s Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party  (AKP) came to power in 2002. For decades Turkey was obsessed with Europe  (despite a lukewarm reception) and all too keen to comply with the official NATO  line, but in recent years it has started to look east, cultivating a role as a  regional superpower. From Syria to Iran, the government has aggressively pursued  closer ties with its neighbors. Amid the latest spat with Israel, Turkey signed  a historic peace accord with its age-old foe Armenia and sent a 10-Minister  delegation to Syria to negotiate the lifting of visa requirements for tourists  traveling between the two countries.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>What sets the war-games snub apart from other recent disputes is that for  the first time, military relations between the two countries have taken a hit.  This is a result of the Turkish government&#8217;s having increased its control over  the country&#8217;s powerful generals in a bitter \u2014 and ongoing \u2014 seven-year power  struggle. &#8220;Until very recently, it was the upper echelons of the Turkish  military who determined the scope and pace of the strategic relationship between  Israel and Turkey,&#8221; Ayturk says. &#8220;What we are witnessing is the chief of staff  allowing, willy-nilly, Erdogan to take the initiative. They are acquiescing in a  &#8216;political&#8217; decision.&#8221; <span><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/video\/player\/0,32068,17593714001_1887745,00.html\">(See TIME&#8217;s video &#8220;Egyptians on the Egypt-Israel Peace  Treaty.&#8221;)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>On a popular level, almost as worrying as the political brinksmanship being  played out between Turkey and Israel is the speed with which official hostility  has trickled down to the streets. Visitors from Israel to Turkey \u2014 formerly the  second most popular travel destination for Israelis after the U.S. \u2014 have fallen  47% since January, compared with the same period last year. The Turkish  government has also been less than careful in fanning the flames of  anti-Semitism. Erdogan recently exhorted university students to take a page from  &#8220;the Jews,&#8221; whom, he said, &#8220;invent things and then sit back and make money off  those inventions.&#8221; Innocuously meant, perhaps, but dangerous nonetheless,  particularly as Turkey is home to a Jewish minority.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>Pragmatism is still likely to keep the crisis in check. Israel is involved  in two major defense projects in Turkey that are worth more than $1 billion, and  the prickly issue of Iran&#8217;s nuclear program looms larger than anything else in  the region. But the latest dispute signals that it is no longer business as  usual between the two erstwhile friends.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span><span><span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/www.time.com\/time\/photogallery\/0,29307,1730968_1564861,00.html\">See pictures of 60 years of Israel.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why Turkey and Israel Have Fallen Out By Pelin Turgut \/ Istanbul Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 Turkish naval ships off the shore of the Israeli city of Haifa are seen during a joint U.S., Israeli and Turkish military exercise on Aug. 19, 2008 Sebastian Scheiner \/ AP MORE Add to my: del.icio.us , the unlikely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":32532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,89],"tags":[128],"class_list":["post-15440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","category-turkey","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}