When All Else Fails, Erdogan Calls Israel

by Shoshana Bryen • December 18, 2015 at 5:00 am

Erdogan came to office in 2003 with a policy of "zero problems with neighbors," but has since led Turkey to problems with most, if not all, of them.
Turkey's foreign policy choices and current crises have combined to make Erdogan reach out to Israel for help.
Israel has weighed the price and found it acceptable: Israel will pay Turkey $20 million; Turkey will expel the Hamas leadership from Istanbul and will buy Israeli gas.
The restoration of relations with Israel is less a political reconciliation than an admission of the utter bankruptcy of Turkey's last five years of diplomatic endeavor.

Which way will Turkish President Erdogan go on Israel?
Left: Erdogan (then Prime Minister) shakes hands with then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, on May 1, 2005. Right: Erdogan shakes hands with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on January 3, 2012.

The announcement of the restoration of Israel-Turkish relations should be seen in the context of Turkey having nowhere else to go.

Turkey's relations with Israel have been strained, to put it mildly, since 2010 when, through a non-profit organization, Turkey funded the 2010 Gaza Flotilla aimed at breaking the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.