AND
Barry Rubin
Jerusalem
Post, February 1, 2009
Two of the region’s most important countries— and
—are at a crossroads. has the chance to again be the Arab world’s central power; in contrast,
’s government is throwing away the opportunity to become a major diplomatic player in the region while hammering the last nail into the coffin of its chance for European Union membership.
Let’s consider
first. In the Gaza war’s aftermath, everyone is asking
Cairo
its preferences for policing the border with Hamas’s radical Islamist semi-state next door.
must take the lead in any new arrangement to stop arms’ smuggling. Moreover, that country is now the Palestinian Authority’s indispensible patron and will determine whether a coherent international effort will be made to bring down Hamas. Any hope for an Arab-Israeli peace process or, more likely, simple stability is riding with
now.
But that’s not all. In recent months,
has taken decisive public steps toward being the leader of moderate Arab resistance to the Iran-Syria axis, radical Islamism and—in most Arabs’ minds—the Shi’ite threat. Can the aging President Hosni Mubarak put himself at the head of a moderate Arab coalition? Can he and his colleagues play tutor to a new
government looking for a new strategy in the region?… Note that President Barack Obama has no special link to any regional country, in sharp contrast to his two Bush predecessors, who had ties with
. A clever strategy could build a strong Obama-Egypt connection in which Washington would look to
Cairo
for ideas.…
Then there’s
. We have known for some time that the Ataturk era is over, but now we see that an Islamist-oriented period has begun. It isn’t just the unprecedented high level of abuse aimed against
. Nor is it merely the statements verging on the anti-Semitic which have frightened Turkish Jews more than at any time in modern history. It is also the increasing confidence—one might say arrogance—of the ruling AKP party, more openly pushing an Islamist-oriented agenda, and in some ways apparently drifting closer to and
.
What is motivating the AKP to seem more and more like a wolf in sheep’s clothing? The most important factor is its success. From election to election, the AKP increases its base of support. The opposition remains divided and incompetent. The party’s leaders may increasingly be thinking they will be in power forever and inclined to make sure their wish comes true.
And so the media is intimidated; the army is curbed by periodic arrests in retaliation for alleged coup plans. A new constitution is being written for the country. Systematically, institutions are being taken over: The party’s men are put into the bureaucracy, its controlling shadow falls on the universities and it installs new judges in the courts.
The presidents of and
are feted as heroes, the would-be mass murders of the first and the already implemented killings of the second are ignored. The first got a security cooperation treaty; both obtained offers of more Turkish investments in their gas producing fields. No wonder the AKP is so friendly with ,
and Hamas—it views them as ideological fellows. As the Turkish analyst Soner Cagaptay put it, “It appears that [Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan has finally answered the question of where
belongs—and that in his opinion, it’s not with the West.”…
The Turkish government’s open partnership with radical forces horrifies many Turks and will lose
Ankara
lots of friends abroad. It is not too late to pull back, but probably the AKP will go even further, fueled by likely successes in local elections this summer.
For
, in contrast, there is a great opportunity. Will Ankara’s loss be balanced by
Cairo
’s gain?
(Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in
International
Affairs
Center
and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs Journal.)
‘ERDOGAN-LED
CAN’T BROKER TALKS’
Haviv Rettig Gur
Jerusalem
Post, February 1, 2009
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan “has lost all credibility as an honest broker in peace discussions,” a senior Israeli diplomatic official told The Jerusalem Post Saturday night, citing Erdogan’s recent anti-Israel rhetoric. “As long as he is the prime minister of the country,
has no place in peace negotiations or discussions,” the official added. “It is not a trustworthy diplomatic partner anymore.”
Until recently, had played a key role in quiet discussions between ,
, and other regional players. The loss of the Turkish diplomatic channel was a serious blow to these discussions, said Foreign Ministry officials. “The only parties that could reasonably play that mediating role now are the Americans under Obama, or, in theory, a European party,” the diplomatic official surmised.
At the Davos World Economic Forum on Thursday night, Erdogan launched a blistering attack on Operation Cast Lead, ’s offensive against Hamas infrastructure in
Gaza
. This was followed by an impassioned defense of
’s actions by President Shimon Peres, Erdogan’s fellow panel member at the prestigious conference. When Erdogan tried to respond, he was cut off by the moderator, and quickly stormed off the stage, accusing Peres of lying.
“It’s not that he criticized
,” said the Israeli official. “Other countries, such as the French, criticize
whenever they see fit. But Erdogan launched accusation after accusation and did everything possible to be disrespectful, including telling outright lies. He went as far as to publicly shame the president of the state of
,” the official said.
The Davos incident was the culmination of a month of angry tirades against
by the Turkish prime minister. Throughout the Gaza fighting, Erdogan blamed
alone for the escalation and called for it to be barred from the UN. He accused
of “inhuman actions which would bring it to self-destruction. Allah will sooner or later punish those who transgress the rights of innocents,” he said. In a January 13 speech to ’s parliament, he accused “media outlets supported by Jews” of “disseminating false reports on what happens in
Gaza
, finding unfounded excuses to justify targeting of schools, mosques, and hospitals.”
‘ERDOGAN’S REMARKS AID ANTI-SEMITISM’
Haviv Rettig Gur
Jerusalem
Post, January 29, 2009
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is encouraging expressions of anti-Semitism in his country by espousing biased views and wholeheartedly accepting the Hamas narrative of the recent
Gaza
fighting, a senior Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.… [D]uring the fighting, Erdogan “did not utter one word that placed even one percent of the responsibility for the conflict on Hamas….”
As the country’s prime minister was lambasting repeatedly,
’s Jewish community was experiencing “the worst situation in memory,” said someone close to the community. The community, estimated to number some 26,000, has seen a spate of anti-Semitic incidents in the wake of
’s operation against Hamas.
At anti-Israel demonstrations throughout the country, demonstrators were seen carrying blatantly anti-Semitic signs. At a demonstration in the industrial city of
Eskisehir
, for example, signs read, “Dogs allowed, but no Jews or Armenians.” Posters placed on billboards throughout Istanbul showed bloodied children from
Gaza
, and addressed Jews directly, calling them “no sons of Moses.” An Istanbul newspaper published a caricature this week showing Hitler flying an Israel Air Force jet, while another called for the expulsion of
’s chief rabbi and claimed the Torah permitted Jews to murder their own parents.… At least one store in
Istanbul
’s old city saw a sign posted outside notifying shoppers to avoid it because it was owned by Jews. Israeli officials have also followed calls on Turkish Internet sites to boycott Jewish businesses. There are reports of Jewish doctors who are losing patients because the patients are unwilling to be treated by Jews.…
Despite Jewish concern from
and abroad, however, the Post could get almost no reaction from the local Jewish community. Members of the Turkish Jewish community either did not return calls or refused to speak on the matter, with one Turkish Jew in
saying only that people “feel it’s too sensitive to talk right now.”…
Perhaps to allay opposition anger at home over Erdogan’s apparent siding with Hamas, the country’s Foreign Minister Ali Babacan called on Hamas to abandon its violent ways. “Hamas should make a decision. Do they want to be an armed organization or a political movement?” he said. Speaking to Turkish television station NTV, Babacan reiterated… “The relations between and are strategic relations”… but added what may have been a veiled warning: “In an environment in which ’s relations with are non-existent,
’s presence in the region will not be that easy. The Israelis also understand that.”…
Criticism of Erdogan’s comments have also come from inside
. Opposition-supporting media have noted that the diplomatic row over Gaza and spate of anti-Semitic incidents could drive the Jewish community toward the Armenians’ side in the political battle in the
over congressional recognition of the Armenian genocide. American Jewish groups were widely reported in the Turkish press to have complained to the Turkish government about the rise in anti-Semitic incidents, including the closure of synagogues in Izmir and anti-Jewish propaganda in
Istanbul
. A call to the Turkish Embassy seeking comment was not returned.
A CLIMATE OF FEAR
Abe Selig
Jerusalem
Post, February 1, 2009
Ever since she was a kid, Sheila wanted to be married in
Istanbul
’s famous Neveh Shalom Synagogue. “It’s a very beautiful place,” the 26-year-old told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. “Growing up in
Istanbul
, all the girls want to have their weddings there.” But Sheila, who made aliya three years ago and lives in Jerusalem, said that given the dramatic increase in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment in
following Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip last month, her dream wedding is turning into something of a nightmare.
“I was engaged three months ago,” said Sheila, who asked that her last name not be published out of fear for her family’s safety, all of whom still live in the Turkish metropolis. “My fiance is Israeli, and his family no longer wants to go there for the wedding. On top of that, when my mother goes to the ministry offices [in
Istanbul
] to try and get the marriage forms filled out, they won’t help her. They won’t help her because she’s Jewish.” Describing a “climate of fear” in her former hometown, the Turkish immigrant said she will most likely cancel her wedding plans. “Frankly, I’m scared to have my wedding there now,” she said.…
“Every day it gets worse,” Sheila continued. “My parents told me that a shopkeeper near one of the Jewish neighborhoods, where my grandparents live, put a sign in the window of his store that said, ‘No Jews allowed, but dogs are welcome.’ “Even when my parents go to buy a phone card to call me, they get harassed by the shopkeepers the minute they say they’re trying to make a call to
.”
Sheila also said that during the war, billboards went up around town decrying the Israeli “crimes” in Gaza, and the government made students in every Turkish school stand for a moment of silence in solidarity with the children of
Gaza
. “They even had to do it at the Jewish school I went to as a kid,” Sheila said. “I can only imagine how uncomfortable the students must have felt.”
And while she admits that Turkish anti-Semitism was always a festering force somewhere in the shadows, Sheila said it’s now reached levels unseen in her lifetime, or in that of her parents, and is spilling over into the streets. “Just look at the way they stood outside to meet [Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan] when he came back from Davos,” Sheila said, referring to the popular head of government’s grand reception after his televised spat with President Shimon Peres. “He’s the one to blame for this, he’s rallying the poor and uninformed people behind his rhetoric, and they’re buying it. We knew it would be bad the minute he came into the government, but we never thought it would be this bad.”
Sheila is not alone. Nathalie, also a new immigrant from
Istanbul
, lives in Tel Aviv. She agreed to speak to the Post, but also asked that her last name remain unpublished.…
“[T]here are those who feel like it will calm down as well. I think the main thing to remember is that local elections are coming up in
, and the prime minister is demonizing the Jews to rally more votes. It’s like a classic anti-Semitic theme. But at the same time, there’s such strong ties between and
, it makes you wonder if he’s crazy. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Itzik Behar, who made aliya from
Izmir
in 1948, agrees. “They need us more than we need them,” he said, as he stood outside of a barber shop in
Jerusalem
’s Mahaneh Yehuda Market on Sunday. “But I’ll tell you the truth, I love
, I used to go back all the time. But now, I wouldn’t go there if you paid me.… “First, it’s because of the situation there now—I’d be afraid for my safety, as an Israeli and as a Jew. But second, it’s because of that fear. I’m really angry with the Turks. They always received me so well, and treated me like a brother—after all, I grew up there. But to see this on the news every night, the way they’re demonstrating and being violent, I feel like they’ve turned on me, like they’re traitors,” Behar said.
“They turned on all of
in a heartbeat, and I don’t think many Israelis will forget that. Go to the airport and see how many Israelis are flying to
today. No, you know what, I’ll save you the trip. None. Zero.”
