{"id":9162,"date":"2009-02-13T08:14:09","date_gmt":"2009-02-13T05:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=9162"},"modified":"2013-10-10T10:14:32","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T07:14:32","slug":"why-turkey-israel-must-stay-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2009\/02\/13\/why-turkey-israel-must-stay-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Turkey, Israel Must Stay Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Osman \u201cOz\u201d Bengur<\/strong>
\nSpecial to the Jewish Times <\/em><\/p>\n

The present rupture in relations between Turkey and Israel is unfortunate and cause for great concern. Relations between Israel and Turkey have been strong and for the sake of both countries and U.S. interests, it is critically important they remain so.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, I would like to respond to Dr. Alexander Murinson\u2019s February 6 article, \u201cTurkey\u2019s Islamic PM Rocks Israel\u2019 Ties\u201d CLICK HERE<\/span><\/p>\n

As Dr. Murinson points out in his article, there have been deplorable anti-Semitic rhetoric and activities in Turkey following the start of Israel\u2019s military action in Gaza. Turkish leaders were too slow to condemn these acts and the Prime Minister and his government have now made clear that anti-Semitic outbreaks in Turkey will not be tolerated.<\/p>\n

There are clearly serious differences between the two governments\u2019 views over Gaza that should be addressed in a more temperate way. Unfortunately, Prime Minister Erdogan\u2019s ill-chosen words at Davos were not constructive. It is especially important in these times of heightened emotions that great care is given to the choice of words.<\/p>\n

In his article, Dr. Murinson characterizes Prime Minister Erdogan and his AK party (AKP) and the government of Turkey as \u201cIslamist\u201d which I am concerned creates a misleading impression. The term \u201cIslamist\u201d is usually associated with countries like Iran that are governed according to Sharia law, or mistakenly, with terrorists. Even though Turkey\u2019s population of 75 million is predominantly Muslim, and its ruling party expresses its Muslim faith openly (both the Prime Minister and President\u2019s wives wear headscarves) the secular foundations established by modern Turkey\u2019s founder, Kemal Ataturk, remain strong. In fact, a recent survey showed that only 9 percent of the population would support Islamic law.<\/p>\n

The AKP has twice been elected by increased pluralities and has largely governed pragmatically. Under its leadership, Turkey has made strides to bring its laws into compliance with European Union norms (by abolishing the death penalty and strengthening equal rights for women). There also is broad public support for instituting anti-corruption, judicial and electoral reforms that are a pre-requisite for the EU membership that Turkey seeks.<\/p>\n

The Turkish secular democratic \u201cmodel\u201d serves as an example to the Islamic world. Turkey\u2019s willingness to send peacekeeping troops to Lebanon and to mediate talks between Israel and Syria are important to obtaining the goal of peace in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

At the same time, AKP\u2019s attempts to remove prohibitions against religious expression such as the wearing of headscarves in universities (a measure that was ruled unconstitutional by Turkey\u2019s highest court) has generated heated opposition from Turks who defend the country\u2019s secular heritage.<\/p>\n

The modern Turkish republic was founded almost 86 years ago and is still a young nation. Turkey has made enormous strides in the past 20 years to broaden its democracy and is now struggling to balance democracy with faith, but it is not \u201cIslamist\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dr. Murinson attempts to \u201cde-legitimize\u201d (to borrow his word) Turkey\u2019s objections over Gaza by implying that Turkey has no moral standing since it has attacked PKK terrorist strongholds in the Kurdish region of Northern Iraq. Like Israel, Turkey has a right to defend itself against terrorists and has come under criticism for its actions. Recent reports indicate that the Turkish military has taken greater care not to attack villages and that civilian casualties are rare.<\/p>\n

It is deeply disturbing to many Turks and Americans of Turkish heritage like me to see anti-Semitism in Turkey. While diplomatic, military and commercial cooperation between Turkey and Israel is relatively recent, the emotional ties between Jews and Turks span more than 500 years since the time the Ottoman Sultan provided haven for Jews fleeing the Inquisition. Over the centuries, Turkey has provided refuge for Jews seeking asylum. Yad Vashem named a Turkish Consul General \u201cRighteous Among Nations\u201d for saving Jews from the Nazis. Turkey was the first predominantly Muslim country to recognize the State of Israel in 1949 and with Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

This history cannot be taken for granted, however. Turkey must reassure its Jewish citizens by taking decisive action against anti-Semitism. The recent disagreements over Gaza shouldn\u2019t be allowed to escalate to the point where the relationship between the two countries is irreparably damaged.<\/p>\n

A strong relationship between Turkey and Israel is vital to both countries and vital to the strategic interests of the United States.<\/p>\n

We all have a stake in its success.<\/p>\n

Osman \u201cOz\u201d Bengur, who lives in Towson, is a former candidate for the U.S. Congress. More of his work can be found at: citybizlist.com<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Source: www.jewishtimes.com<\/span>, <\/em>February 13, 2009<\/span><\/p>\n

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Osman \u201cOz\u201d Bengur Special to the Jewish Times The present rupture in relations between Turkey and Israel is unfortunate and cause for great concern. Relations between Israel and Turkey have been strong and for the sake of both countries and U.S. interests, it is critically important they remain so. With that in mind, I would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":782328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,89,34,922],"tags":[1088,1087],"class_list":["post-9162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","category-turkey","category-usa","category-world","tag-righteous-among-nations","tag-the-inquisition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9162","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=9162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}