Turkish-Israeli
Relations

A briefing by Soner Cagaptay
April
3, 2009

http://www.meforum.org/2117/turkish-israeli-relations
(includes
an audio recording of this talk)

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Soner Cagaptay is director of the Turkish
Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
and an expert on Turkish-Israeli relations. He earned his Ph.D. from
Yale, taught at Princeton, and contributes regularly to leading news
outlets. On April 9, Mr. Cagaptay addressed the Middle East Forum via
conference call.

To illustrate how Turkey has changed under AK Party rule
(the "Justice and Development" party), Soner Cagaptay highlighted the fact
that, before the AKP came to power in 2002 elections, Turkey "worked as a
normal country," exhibiting qualities more in line with non-Muslim,
secular nations.

For example, pre-AKP Turkey fostered a positive public
relationship with Israel, exemplified by strong economic, intellectual,
and even military ties. Moreover, Turkey was an important contributor to
NATO, having participated in every NATO operation since joining the
alliance in 1952. Finally, it exhibited a markedly pro-Western outlook and
was being seriously considered for EU membership.

Soner
Cagaptay

All three qualities have eroded under AKP leadership. EU
accession talks have stalled as liberal democratic values are being
undermined in Turkey. Media freedom and gender equality have suffered;
there are now fewer women in public life. Turkey refused to allow U.S.
troops to enter Iraq from the north in 2003 and is now cultivating links
with Iran.

Nowhere has this transformation been more pronounced than in
Turkey's relationship with Israel. Prime Minster Erdoğan and his party
have promoted anti-Semitism and hatred of Israel at home, suggesting that
"God would punish Israel" and accusing it of having turned Gaza into a
"concentration camp." Turkey's antagonism came to a head at the Davos
meeting earlier this year when Erdoğan told Israeli President Peres, "You
know very well how to kill people."

Yet not all killing upsets Turkey. The day after returning
from Davos, Erdoğan hosted the vice president of Sudan, who is currently
wanted by the International Criminal court for waging a genocide against
the non-Arab Muslim population. Cagaptay believes this is the "best proof
that Erdoğan's thinking and foreign policy is Islamist. Turkey's
opposition to Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen's nomination to head NATO
due to his defending the publication of the Muhammad cartoons is also
telling.

Cagaptay fears that continued AKP influence will turn
Turkish citizens against Israel and the West. This is a problem because
Turkey is a democracy and "you cannot sustain a relationship that is not
supported by the public." Furthermore, as the AKP views world conflicts in
terms of Muslims versus non-Muslims, its place within NATO could
deteriorate further as the alliance launches new offensives in Afghanistan
and Pakistan.

However, Cagaptay sees reasons for optimism. The AKP fared
poorly in recent local elections and the economic downturn is bound to
have a negative impact on its prospects. As professionals abandon the AKP,
it will be left with an Islamist core, allowing outsiders more easily to
identify it for what it is. Thus Erdoğan's Davos outburst was a "blessing
in disguise."

Cagaptay counsels the Obama administration to define Turkey
as a Western country that happens to be Muslim, thereby setting clear
benchmarks for Turkish behavior both internally and on the world stage.
Furthermore, America must not alienate ordinary Turks by passing
resolutions condemning the Armenian genocide, a wildly unpopular topic in
Turkey.

According to Cagaptay, the most important lesson from the
Turkish experience over the past decade is: "Do not allow Islamist rule
because they corrupt even the most liberal of Muslim societies."

This is a lesson that many Palestinians may have come to
learn the hard way.

Summary account by David Rusin and Raymond
Ibrahim.

Related Topics: Israel, Strategic alliances, Turkey

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