Why Erdogan Seeks to Reconcile With Israeli Regime

04 May 2014 | 21:08 Code : 1932354 Interview General category
An interview with Assadollah Athari, an expert on Turkish affairs
Why Erdogan Seeks to Reconcile With Israeli Regime

In an interview with a US media outlet, Turkey’s Prime Minister has talked about the normalization of his country’s relations with the Zionist regime in the coming days. What is the reason behind the reestablishment of relations between Turkey and Israel? Have the problems which had created challenges between these two countries been removed?

The Israeli army attacked a Turkish ship on the 31st of May 2010 in the free waters of the Mediterranean Sea and prevented it from reaching the Gaza shore. Israel has never expressed regret and apologized for this incident. It seemed during these four years that relations between Turkey and Israel were cut off but despite these issues and even the challenge that was created between Shimon Peres and Erdogan in the Davos meeting, relations between Turkey and Israel were never cut off. The question is, why didn’t Israel apologize for the 2010 incident? Did it pay any compensation for this incident? It is said that Barack Obama, the US President, has asked Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, in a telephone conversation to complete the trend of the normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel. The radical forces of Israel were not interested in apologizing and this phone conversation was perceived to be an apology.

Mr. Erdogan’s conditions for the normalization of relations were that Israel must give a written commitment and apologize and be bound to remove the Gaza blockage. Of course, experience has shown that Israel has never apologized for more important issues which had violated international laws. Now why is Erdogan interested in the normalization of relations despite such experiences?

The fact is that Barack Obama, the US President, has implied through his phone conversation that the Israelis are apologizing but there is no doubt that Israel is not interested at all in making an official apology. Therefore, it is assumed that this apology has somehow been offered but the fact is that none of the set conditions were executed. These issues show that the Israelis bypassed the Turks. Under the pressure exerted by the US and the Israeli lobby, Turkey is interested in repairing its relations with Israel at a time when there are going to be elections in the near future in this country. Furthermore, Turkey’s domestic problems have also affected this issue.

Some believe that the US pursues a project in the Middle East which includes the Arab-Israeli peace process and the issue of Syria and it needs the presence of Turkey as one of the countries involved in this matter with the other party which is Israel. How would this matter impact the normalization of Turkey’s relations with Israel?

The US has no project in the Middle East. The US policy with regard to these countries including Turkey and Iran is not similar and could not be considered as a project. On one hand, relations between Israel and Turkey have never been cut off and there has always been an exchange of information between these two countries. The US view is more legal than an identity issue. The US usually criticizes a country first and then normalizes its relations with it. Thus, I name this trend the normalization of relations. Furthermore, Israel has never apologized or paid compensation for that incident but the point is that Israel has made certain movements in the energy field. This issue pursues a huge gas resource between Turkey, Cyprus and Israel. The issue of energy has formed the atmosphere more than the above-mentioned matters. Turkey pursues an image of itself in the international and domestic scenes which could not be interpreted as racist or anti-Zionist behavior and prevent hostilities with Israel. In the end, Erdogan seeks to minimize his country’s internal problems.

Some analyses indicate that the cutting off of relations with Israel has not led to spiritual and material interests for this country at the regional level, thus, today Turkey intends to reduce the tension with Tel Aviv due to the differences which were created between these two countries. Would you agree with this assessment?

Despite the fact that Erdogan had previously stated that the relations would never be normalized, the geopolitical necessities and the issues related to energy and the region have caused it to return to a normalization of relations. There are numerous reasons behind its intention to reestablish its relations with Israel. First is that it is important for Turkey to not show an anti-Zionist image of itself. On the other hand, Turkey had said that it would normalize its relations if an apology was made and they say that this has happened. The other point is that the changes in the region and the civil wars in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Libya impact this decision. These days, we read in Israeli newspapers that the Middle East is on the verge of collapse, thus, they intend to prepare the ground to contain the regional consequences of these unrests. The other point is the issue of energy. The energy line which provides the needs of Israel passes through Turkey. The last point is that Erdogan intends to pave the way for his future in the election. The collection of these issues has led to the normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel.

tags: israel turkey erdogan