This week, Turkey excluded Israel from participating in long-planned NATO joint military exercises. This was unusual and unexpected, especially considering that Israel and Turkey have had strong economic and military relations for years. So, the question arises: Is this a blip on the screen because the Turkish government is expressing anger at what it considers Israel's excessive use of force in Gaza? Or was Gaza just the excuse that Turkey's ruling Islamic party has long been looking for in order to permanently distance itself from Israel?
Two indicators point in the latter direction, despite Turkey's attempts to downplay the importance of the incident. First, Turkey has invited Syria to take part in the exercises in Israel's stead. A joint military maneuver with Syria can hardly be considered consistent with a continued strategic relationship with Israel.
Secondly, the Israeli foreign ministry has just called the acting Turkish ambassador on the carpet because a television drama shown on a Turkish state-sponsored station depicts an actor posing as an Israeli soldier deliberately shooting a young Palestinian girl at short range and lining up other Palestinians for a firing squad. Israeli foreign minister Lieberman correctly describes this as "the most serious level of incitement." This also does not give Israelis cause for optimism about the long term relationship.
If Turkey is so adamant about wrecking its relationship with Israel, why then does it not simply come out and say so? Perhaps because being too open about such a policy would strain relations with the west, and, specifically, would jeopardize Turkey's already shaky chances for European Union membership, which it has sought for some time.
Before the Turkish government goes too far down this road, it should ask itself how much it has to gain by doing so, and how much it will lose.
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Hard as I try , it is rather difficult to stay neutral and objective on this particular topic. Admittedly, I have a very limited knowledge of the subject except for what I learned in school and what I catch on the news. That being said, and for what it's worth, I cannot imagine that the Turkish government does not understand the implications of its most recent actions. From what I can recall, history will show that Israel has been incredibly generous to and tolerant of the Muslim country, establishing the relationship between the two nations as not only an essential "go-between" for countries in the Middle East, but also as a kind of symbol of hope for peace between Jewish and Muslim states. Furthermore, to make any declarations about Israel's actions in Gaza as inhumane or "excessive" are, I believe, absurd. To my knowledge, Israel launched their campaign to take out weapons that terrorists were using against Jews living in the area, as well as bases for the terrorists themselves. It should be mentioned that Israel utterly and completely exhausted all other options for diplomacy before launching the operation in Gaza. I'm not sure what is on Turkey's agenda but it does seem that the country is taking steps to distance itself from Israel. I agree that the results of actions like this can be disastrous given the stakes...not to mention it goes against all logic of not biting the hand that feeds you. It just seems as if Turkey feels that they hold the aces when, in all actuality, they have much more to lose than to gain by cutting ties with Israel. I'm incredibly interested in knowing what the Turkish government is basing this recent decision on.
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