Muslim Turkey received the butcher Sharon, Israel’s prime minister, with angry demonstrations and hostile slogans.
Israel, a racist state, is alien to the Middle East. The Turkish people have no reason to love it. The present Turkish-Israeli relationship has been imposed upon the Turks by their secular government, which is under the control of the Turkish Army and which, in turn, is controlled by the old guard, all products and supporters of Kemalism.
The opposite directions in which Turkey is being pulled can be understood easily from the obvious contradictions in Turkey’s policy. Even while sending out signals that it is interested in having closer relations with Iran, Iraq and Syria, Turkey goes in the opposite direction, rushing to embrace Israel.
Sharon went to Ankara seeking the cooperation of the Turks to confront “common threats” and to cement the strategic partnership launched on Feb. 26, 1996. Their alliance agreement provides for Turkey, Israel and the United States to hold military and naval maneuvers and to train Israeli pilots at Turkey’s air bases in Anatolia. It also provides for visits by military officers between the two countries. Responding to the widespread feeling that the alliance is a threat to peace in the region, Turkey’s leaders have always affirmed that their relationship with Israel is not directed at any third party.
However, Sharon’s visit to Turkey has revealed the real intentions of Israel. In a TV interview prior to his departure for Turkey, Sharon said that he would strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries to confront terrorism that threatens both the countries. He was referring to Palestinians, Kurds, Iran, Libya and Syria. The fact is that the alliance is aimed, on the one hand, at containing these countries militarily to serve the interests of Israel and its expansionist aims and, on the other, that of Turkey in its conflicts with the Kurds and its water disputes with Syria and Iraq.
There is a belief in Turkey that the alliance would help it in its desire to join the European Union. Turkey is ready to do anything that would further the achievement of this dream. Cooperation with Israel, the Turks believe, would increase US pressure on the EU to take in Ankara as a member. This belief is strengthened by the supportive stances of Israel and its lobbies. So, Turkey is indebted to Israel.
One instance of the support is the hard-line position adopted by US Jews to prevent Congress from condemning Ottoman Turks for the massacres committed against Armenians during World War I. The former prime minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, has intervened personally with European parliamentarians to support Turkey’s request to join the Customs Union.
But Turkey’s joining the European Union is a matter that cannot be managed by Israel or the United States. The reasons for keeping Turkey out of the European club go back to old conflicts of ideologies and heritage between the Turks and the Europeans. They cannot be overcome by any political pressure.
In conclusion, let us suppose that Turkey is truthful in saying that its relationship with Israel is not aimed at any third party. In this case, that means Israel is the one pushing Turkey to do something against its interests based upon Israel’s security obsessions associated with its expansionist activities in the region.
