{"id":19442,"date":"2010-06-03T20:30:34","date_gmt":"2010-06-03T18:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=19442"},"modified":"2023-04-04T18:47:19","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T15:47:19","slug":"nato-or-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2010\/06\/03\/nato-or-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO or Israel?"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Joyner<\/span> | June 03, 2010<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Israel\u2019s attack on a Gaza aid flotilla, killing nine, has earned near-universal condemnation, with even sympathetic observers terming it the act of a bully<\/strong>, tone deaf<\/strong>, staggeringly stupid<\/strong>, tactically incompetent<\/strong>, a major tactical blunder<\/strong>, a moral victory for Hamas<\/span><\/strong>, and an unqualified disaster for Israel\u2019s reputation<\/strong>. But Israel is rather accustomed to international scorn and has every right to chart its own course. However, this latest incidence has potentially grave consequences for United States and its transatlantic allies.<\/p>\n

Turkey, a founding member of the NATO alliance and heretofore Israel\u2019s only friend in the region, is apoplectic.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu proclaimed<\/strong> Tuesday morning, \u201c\u201cPsychologically, this attack is like 9\/11 for Turkey.\u201d As idiotic as that may seem \u2014 there were 9 deaths, not 3000, and the incident involved provocateurs flouting a naval blockage, not innocents in the Turkish homeland \u2014 the actions of his government indicate that the sentiment is genuine.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused<\/span><\/strong> Israel of \u201cstate terrorism\u201d and he told his parliament the Israeli assault violated \u201cinternational law, the conscience of humanity and world peace.\u201d Erdogan proclaimed the incident \u201ca turning point in history. Nothing will be the same again.\u201d Serkan Demirtas<\/span><\/strong>,<\/strong> writing in Hurriyet<\/em>, sees \u201ca long-term diplomatic war between Turkey and Israel\u201d as \u201cunavoidable.\u201d Similar statements<\/span><\/strong> have been made by Turkish pundits and analysts, including those considered moderates.<\/p>\n

Erdogan, noting what seems to be the end of the Turkish-Israeli alliance for the foreseeable future, proclaimed, \u201cTurkey\u2019s hostility is as strong as its friendship is valuable.\u201d And veteran columnist Sami Kohen proclaims<\/strong>, \u201cTurkey now is one of the sides in the Middle East conflict. It is quite clearly opposed to Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erdogan also raised the specter of Article 5: \u201cCitizens of member states were attacked by a country that was not a member of NATO,\u201d he said. \u201cWe think that should be discussed in NATO.\u201d Again, this is overblown. Whatever one thinks of the Israeli action, it was decidedly not an attack on Turkey \u201cin Europe or North America.\u201d And, while Article 6 makes provisions for extending the umbrella of protection to \u201cforces, vessels, or aircraft of any of the Party\u201d operating in the Mediterranean Sea, it rather clearly is intended to apply to the defense of colonial territories.<\/p>\n

But security analysts Steve Hynd<\/span><\/strong> and Robert Mackey<\/strong> think this irrelevant and that if Turkey invokes the Charter, the U.S. will face a dire choice, indeed. As Mackey puts it:<\/p>\n

Because if\u00a0Turkey invokes the NATO charter and the\u00a0US doesn\u2019t react, then NATO is GONE. GONE and DEAD. Why? Because when the\u00a0US was attacked on 9\/11, the NATO charter was invoked–and that is why NATO troops are in\u00a0Afghanistan today. 9\/11 was proof that NATO was not just an \u2018anti-Russian\u2019 pact–that it applied anywhere. If the\u00a0US doesn\u2019t go along with a Turkish response…it will reveal NATO as being a \u201cUS pact\u201d–that the entire alliance exists only to help the\u00a0US. Oh, there will still be mutual defense treaties with the\u00a0UK and maybe\u00a0Germany. But that is just about it. And the\u00a0US will have to go on its own in\u00a0Afghanistan.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Legally, this strikes me as over-reach. But politically? At very least, Turkey\u2019s continued membership in the alliance would be in question. They\u2019ve already moved to distance themselves from the West in recent years. And, goodness knows, the European allies would be happy for any excuse at all to get out of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

All the major European powers have criticized Israel<\/strong>\u2019s actions, with Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy, and David Cameron all issuing stern statements. More interestingly, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has weighed in<\/strong> with uncharacteristically stern words:<\/p>\n

I offer sincere condolences to the families of all victims and condemn the acts which have led to this tragedy. I add my voice to the calls by the United Nations and the European Union for a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation into the incident.<\/p>\n

As a matter of urgency, I also request the immediate release of the detained civilians and ships held by\u00a0Israel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While tame by op-ed standards, diplomats don\u2019t use words like \u201cvictims\u201d and \u201ccondemn\u201d lightly.<\/p>\n

National Interest<\/em> senior editor Jacob Heilbrunn<\/span><\/strong> asks the right question: \u201cWhere does this leave Israel and America?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thus far, the Obama administration is keeping its powder dry, issuing a cautious statement<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>expressing \u201cdeep regret at the loss of life in [the] incident, and concern for the wounded\u201d while also stressing \u201cthe importance of learning all the facts and circumstances around this morning\u2019s tragic events as soon as possible.\u201d That\u2019s exactly the right position for the world\u2019s superpower\u2014and perhaps Israel\u2019s only remaining friend\u2014to take at the outset. But the facts are quickly coming in and it will be time to make tough calls.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, stalling for time isn\u2019t going to please anyone. Certainly not the Turks<\/span><\/strong>, who have already declared themselves \u201cdeeply unsatisfied\u201d with the response.<\/p>\n

Does it matter? American administrations have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel and against the international community dozens of times in the past. But the stakes are higher now.<\/p>\n

Writing in this space, journalist and author Barbara Slavin<\/span><\/strong> declared, \u201cIsrael has scored an own-goal, shifting the narrative from Iran and its nuclear and human rights transgressions to Israel\u2019s lack of regard for pro-Palestinian lives.\u201d Former National Interest<\/em> editor and current Naval War College professor Nick Gvosdev<\/strong> agrees, noting that the \u201cargument that Iran is violating its international commitments and so should be sanctioned may be much harder to make.\u201d And, as the Financial Times<\/em>\u2019s Gideon Rachman<\/span><\/strong> notes,<\/p>\n

\u00a0. . . a sanctions package against\u00a0Iran is arguably as much in the interests of\u00a0Israel, as in the interests of the\u00a0US itself. The\u00a0US may now feel that it has to go along with a UN condemnation of\u00a0Israel to preserve the chances of getting its\u00a0Iran resolution through. It would be a classic Israeli own goal, if their assault on the\u00a0Gaza ships sank the choices of a new resolution on\u00a0Iran.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently, the impending World Cup has analysts thinking of soccer.<\/p>\n

But Iran isn\u2019t the only issue at stake. Turkey is a pivotal state bridging East and West, Christendom and Islam. The Christian Science Monitor<\/em>\u2019s Yigal Schleifer<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Ankara\u2019s shift complicates a historic alliance between Turkey and the US, which has become more important in recent years. An air base in southern\u00a0Turkey is one of the most important transit bases for ferrying troops and supplies to\u00a0Afghanistan. Turkish mediation, meanwhile, had gotten\u00a0Israel and\u00a0Syria back to the peace table until that effort was aborted when the\u00a0Gaza war broke out.<\/p>\n

Increased tension between\u00a0Turkey and\u00a0Israel clouds one of the few sunny spots the\u00a0US had previously enjoyed in the region.<\/p>\n

The deterioration in the once-close relationship between\u00a0Turkey and\u00a0Israel has been mirrored by an equally precipitous rise in\u00a0Turkey\u2019s visibility and involvement in the\u00a0Middle East, an area that it had kept at arm\u2019s length for decades because of historical enmity and mutual suspicion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Switching sports, the ball is now in Obama\u2019s court. Will he handle this according to the national-security interests of the United States? Or will he continue a bipartisan tradition of subordinating our interests to Israel\u2019s? My bet, alas, is on the latter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

James Joyner is managing editor of the Atlantic Council.\u00a0 This essay was originally published by The National Interest<\/span>. Photo credit: Getty Images<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Joyner | June 03, 2010 Israel\u2019s attack on a Gaza aid flotilla, killing nine, has earned near-universal condemnation, with even sympathetic observers terming it the act of a bully, tone deaf, staggeringly stupid, tactically incompetent, a major tactical blunder, a moral victory for Hamas, and an unqualified disaster for Israel\u2019s reputation. But Israel is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":653493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,89,34],"tags":[212,1046,2100],"class_list":["post-19442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","category-turkey","category-usa","tag-nato","tag-israel-turkey-relations","tag-us-turkey-relations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19442","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=19442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}