Whose fault is the bad relations between Turkey and Israel?

[Solomon2]

the elder of ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون
Sunday, March 17, 2013

Whose fault is the bad relations between Turkey and Israel?

JPost reports:

US Secretary of State John Kerry called his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, last week, asking for help in restarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Hurriyet daily reported on Saturday.

Turkey turned down the request citing bad relations between Ankara and Jerusalem and saying the responsibility to fix the murky relations between the two countries falls on Israel.

Relations between Jerusalem and what was once its only Muslim ally crumbled after Israel Navy commandos raided the Mavi Marmara ship in May 2010 to enforce a blockade of the Gaza Strip and killed nine Turks on board after they attacked the commandos.​

Tom WC emailed me about this, noting that relations between Israel and Turkey had been deteriorating way before the Mavi Marmara incident.

His example was this story from October 2009:

Israel's foreign minister has ordered Turkey's ambassador to be summoned over a Turkish TV series that portrays Israeli soldiers killing children.

Avigdor Lieberman said the programme, whose first episode was broadcast on Tuesday, incited hatred against Israel.

In one clip screened on Israeli news channels, an Israeli soldier takes aim at a smiling young girl and kills her.

The complaint is the latest to strain the relationship between Turkey and Israel.​

There were other signs that Turkey was straining relations with Israel before the flotilla. A November 2009 Wikileaks cable said:

The GOI [Government of Israel] raised the current direction the Government of Turkey has taken toward Syria and Iran -- and away from Israel. Israeli participants argued that Turkey has been supportive of Hamas in Gaza while pursuing a more "Islamic" direction with the goal of becoming a regional superpower. The GOI argued that the Turkish military is losing its ability to influence government decisions and strategic direction. After this past year, GOI participants said they have a "bad feeling" about Turkey. The GOI noted that the Israel Air Force (IAF) Commander in the past wanted to speak to the Turkish Air Force Commander, but his Turkish counterpart declined.​

An earlier cable from October 2009:

While the Foreign Ministry and the Turkish General Staff agree with us that a strong Turkey-Israel relationship is essential for regional stability, PM Erdogan has sought to shore up his domestic right political flank at the expense of this relationship. His outburst at Davos was the first in a series of events the results of which we and his staff have sought to contain. The latest of these was Exercise Anatolian Eagle. Erdogan canceled Israel's participation hours before the exercise was to begin. With an Israeli strike - across Turkish airspace - against targets in Iran a possibility, Erdogan decided he could not afford the political risk of being accused of training the forces which would carry out such a raid. Through some remarkable work with Allies and with the inter-agency, we engineered a public "postponement" of the international portion of the exercise, but the relationship has begun to sour.​

A Stratfor Wikileak confirms this as well:

Turkey planned on downgrading relations with Israel even before the May 2010 flotilla incident, documents published Wednesday by WikiLeaks suggest.

A leaked email from George Friedman, the head of US-based global security analysis company Stratfor, reveals that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger that at some point he would burn bridges with Israel in favor of a closer relationship with the Islamic world.

According to the Turkish newspaper Sunday Zaman, Friedman also wrote in the same email that Turkey does not get along with Israel and the United States. An attack by Israel on Iran would provide a good opportunity for Erdogan to finally cut Turkey’s ties with Israel and the US and to expand Turkey’s power, he further wrote.

The flotilla to Gaza — in which nine Turkish citizens aboard a ship heading to Gaza were killed after attacking the IDF commandos who intercepted it – was not the cause of Turkey’s new strategy but rather the opportunity Erdogan had been waiting for, Army Radio said.​

The Mavi Marmara isn't the reason that Turkey is anti-Israel - it is the excuse.

 

[T-123456]

It started when the AKP came into power,slowly they made sure that relations came to this point.
If you look at it it doesnt add up.
First,both countries had the best relations in economic and millitary(untill 2008).
Then Gaza war came,how can Turkey be in favor of Hamas(terrorist organisation).
Im not saying innocent people didnt die but most died because of Hamas and their idiotic ways of warfare.
The Flottila incident(even a appoligy wouldnt do it i guess)but why didnt Israel just say sorry and get on with it?
Dont you think thats strange to between two allies?
And why turn to Iran and Syria(just economic reasons?)?
There must be a hidden agenda somewhere.
I just dont buy it.

 

[Neptune]

As I defended before, it's too bad for both countries.

 

[BronzePlaque]

The Mavi Marmara isn't the reason that Turkey is anti-Israel - it is the excuse.

Yeah right..9 Turks were murdered..a good excuse if you ask me

 

[Thəorətic Muslim]

Both are to blame.

1) Both engaged in Political Brinkmanship before and after the incident
2) Both are milking everything from this incident
3) Face-saving measures will be the political downfall of the leaders of both countries

Netanyahu is not going to say anything other than "they deserved it". Erdogan is in need of this incident to showcase solidarity with Arabs.

New leaders will be needed to move forward, even from the same political parties.

 

[damm1t]

Whose fault is the bad relations between Turkey and Israel?

c'mon.. dont play the innocent here .. just like israel has no sins

 

[T-123456]

Nobody is saying Israel is innocent but look at relations before the Flottila incident.

 

[Neptune]

Nobody is saying Israel is innocent but look at relations before the Flottila incident.

before that, we were each other's BFF's at ME. We were their top muslim bros, now it's azerbaijan. There's also some westerns say we were theirs number 2 after US. Things changed unfortunately.

 

[T-123456]

before that, we were each other's BFF's at ME. We were their top muslim bros, now it's azerbaijan. There's also some westerns say we were theirs number 2 after US. Things changed unfortunately.

Things were bad even in 2009,the brother thing was over.
The 2009 Exercise Anatolian Eagle,why without your bro?
Things were slowly getting worse,since AKP in power.

 

[BronzePlaque]

before that, we were each other's BFF's at ME. We were their top muslim bros, now it's azerbaijan. There's also some westerns say we were theirs number 2 after US. Things changed unfortunately.

Sorry to burst your bubble but there is no such thing as "BFF"(whatever that means) in ME, to be more precise, in the world..You need to look in to things with logic mate, not with your heart...Turkey-Israel relation is not more precious than, lets say, Turkey-Iran relation..Its all about benefits...Only exception is Azerbaijan and thats because we have the same blood..

Turkey or Israel..It doesnt matter whose fault the bad relations is, we need to stop whining and move on

 

[madmusti]

Before a State called "Israel" was in the Middle East ,there was no War or Rebellions between the Population there.

After Israel builded,they Start the War.

Why is Israel attacking Iraq or Syria ? Without a War Declaration? Why is Israel Supporting the PKK before the AKP comes to the Lead ?


Israel is a time bomb for the Region.

 

[Neptune]

Sorry to burst your bubble but there is no such thing as "BFF"(whatever that means) in ME, to be more precise, in the world..You need to look in to things with logic mate, not with your heart...Turkey-Israel relation is not more precious than, lets say, Turkey-Iran relation..Its all about benefits...Only exception is Azerbaijan and thats because we have the same blood..

Turkey or Israel..It doesnt matter whose fault the bad relations is, we need to stop whining and move on

(technically we can't use that term for countries so that was the joke part if get that mate)

back to topic. If you remember the relations at 2004-09. It was amazing. Please someone list us Israels allies, (not the friendly countries). Yes there's only US and 1 or 2 European states. In the periot I mentioned. We were one of that few allies(!) which gave us some advantages, just as we gave them some advantages too.

Yes it was not a brotherhood. But used to be strong "allyship". About Iran, our relations with Israel was better than the relations with Iran at that time periot. In our foreign policy, we shouldn't think Religious, we should think about our National Interests

 

[Oublious]

I hope that the relation always stay like this....

 

[FireFistAce]

Whose fault is the bad relations between Turkey and Israel?

Does it really matter?

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

it all started when PM Erdogan put Mr. Perez in an awkward situation @ Davos years back (a brilliant performance) and subsequent diatribes against israel

but what caused Mr. Erdogan to do this?

it was ongoing military excesses that were almost a replica of what had happened at Jenin Camp in 2002 (what many analysts rightly call a "massacre") in Occupied Palestine territory

so in actuality - it was israel that started it when she decided to continue the policy of utmost disregard for gentile life and property

Mavi Marmara basically was the last nail in the coffin. If Turkish commandos did that to an israeli vessel, israel wouldve been pretty mad too.