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Israel's Error with Erdogan: Thought Fixation Israel today

2021-02-22T17:34:27.228Z


| the Middle East After positive momentum in the Jerusalem-Ankara relationship came a dead end • Erdogan's relations with Hamas can be benefited • Normalizing relations with Turkey will stress Iran • Interpretation Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Photo:  IP Over the past few months, with or without former US President Donald Trump replacing current President Joe Biden - or without him at all - there see


After positive momentum in the Jerusalem-Ankara relationship came a dead end • Erdogan's relations with Hamas can be benefited • Normalizing relations with Turkey will stress Iran • Interpretation

  • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

    Photo: 

    IP

Over the past few months, with or without former US President Donald Trump replacing current President Joe Biden - or without him at all - there seemed to be positive momentum in Israel-Turkey relations. Towards the end of the term of the Israeli Charge D'Affairs Earlier in Ankara, Roi Gilad, relations between the two countries seemed to be just a step away from the return of an ambassador to Ankara and a consul general to Istanbul.

And now, the question arises why did this golden opportunity be missed?

To me, there are two words that suffice for this: mental fixation.

There is no doubt that Hamas is a terrorist organization of Israel's greatest enemies, and there is no denying that the typical message line of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan must change 180 degrees.

And yet - any sane person understands and knows that long before the important Abrahamic treaties with the United Arab Emirates, with Bahrain, with Sudan, and with Morocco, as well as the peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt - Ankara was Israel's first Muslim friend.

Israeli-Turkish confrontation live

In the early 1950s, Turkey was the first Muslim country to recognize the State of Israel.

At the historical level, Jerusalem must not forget this fact.

Do we want the excellent relations that have been with Ankara to become what happened with Iran?

Excellent relations with the Shah - Tehran has become the greatest enemy of Israel.

On the contrary, economic relations between Israel and Turkey continue, even today, to be excellent - without an ambassador in Ankara and without a consul general in the economic capital - Istanbul.

If so, what will happen if relations between the two countries are normalized?

It is clear that economic cooperation will skyrocket even more.

Beyond that, anyone who has been devoutly following Erdogan's activities since his election as Prime Minister in March 2003 knows: the President of Turkey does not have "one in the mouth - one in the heart."

If he declares a certain plan - he fulfills.

And here it is worth noting the interesting process they carried out in Ankara and it is not clear if they noticed it at all in Jerusalem: Initially, as first reported in "Israel Today", Erdogan's associate - Admiral Jihat Yeiji, published a first proposal in the "Turkeyscope" magazine Of its kind for regulating the maritime economic border, between Turkey and Israel. 

About two and a half weeks later, another Erdogan adviser, Prof. Mesut Jashin, stated in an interview with the VOA agency: "It is possible that full diplomatic relations will be restored by March. Why not?"

And the dessert arrived three days later.

The Turkish president said directly, at the end of Friday prayers, in front of the cameras that "Israel's policy regarding the Palestinians is unacceptable, but Turkey wants to improve its relations with Israel."

Signs in Ankara after the end of the crisis in the relationship following the Maui Marmara flotilla / Photo: AFP

And behold, in three days it will be two months to the same significant statement by Erdogan, and what happened?

is nothing.

So anyone who falls into the conceptions regarding Turkey will come and say "he is a Hamas collaborator ... he mourns his senior officials in Istanbul ... he invests a lot in the Palestinian Authority" and more and more and more ... and here is exactly the serious mistake.

The same Palestinian dependence on Erdogan - Israel can and should take advantage of it.

Good relations with Ankara can lead to significant leverage on Hamas that will affect two key issues: first, the promotion of a prisoner deal - and the return of Lt. Hadar Goldin, Sgt. Oron Shaul, Abra Mengistu and Hisham a-Sayed. Long.

Beyond that, the Palestinian Authority elections are just around the corner.

Elections to the Legislative Council will take place on May 22, while the presidential elections will take place on July 31.

At the same time, both against the background of the relatively conciliatory line in Hamas' terms and against the background of Ankara's significant economic investments in the Palestinian Authority, Israel must understand that Turkey is also an important tool in this context.

The hostel in Istanbul

And if we are talking about Hamas, Erdogan has the ability to use great force on the head of the political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, on senior Hamas figures living in a hostel in Istanbul given to them by the Turkish president, and of course Yahya Sinwar who needs help in the Gaza Strip.

All of this, through good relations with Israel, could lead to a situation in which Tehran's envoys, the pro-Iranian militia in the Gaza Strip - the Islamic Jihad, will remain under the command of Quds Force commander in the Revolutionary Guards, Ismail Kaani, but at the intra-Palestinian level they will become Neta foreign.

And a final, but very significant point that Israel has not been able to take advantage of is the results of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Not every war has a winner, but in the one in the divided province of the Caucasus there was a huge winner and it is, of course, Azerbaijan.

It did so with the help of both Israeli and Turkish weapons - and from here Israel could have leveraged this to normalize relations that would have created a first-rate strategic triangle between Jerusalem-Ankara-Baku.

Azerbaijan Army at War in Nagorno-Karabakh / Photo: IPI

Such a situation would return to the Ayatollahs regime in general and the Revolutionary Guards in particular in the same currency.

While Kaani and his men aspire to create a "choke ring" around the state of Israel with the help of Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian militias, although Iran has no border with Israel, Jerusalem can reciprocate the same coin with its own choke ring on Tehran through borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey alike.

If today the ayatollahs' regime does not really like the warm relations between Baku, which has a 765 km border with Iran, and Jerusalem - then it will get Israel's warm relations with Turkey as well, its 499 km border with Iran, and then in general they Will be required to recalculate a route.

In conclusion, if Israel wants to get Iran to recalculate its course, it must begin an introspection regarding its relations with Ankara.

President Erdogan can be of great benefit to Jerusalem both in the Palestinian arena and in the struggle against Iran - and the same excuses regarding Hamas, Israel should become rather tools that will help strengthen the country's resilience.

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-02-22

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