Turkeys fiery words against means little
Joseph Dana
More than a decade ago, Turkey set out to rebrand itself as an international tourism and trade hub. A crucial part of this transformation was Turkish Airlines. The national flag carrier now flies to more destinations than any other airline in the world and has remade Istanbul into a global city. Given the airlines reach, it is surprising that one of its most popular and lucrative routes is Tel Aviv to Istanbul. Turkish Airlines is the second most popular carrier out of Tel Aviv after Israels national carrier El Al.
With more than 12 flights a day from Tel Aviv to Istanbul, divided between Turkish Airlines and the low-cost carrier Pegasus, Turkey is a dominant force in the Israeli aviation market. But this is only one aspect of a deep economic partnership between Turkey and Israel. Despite fiery rhetoric in support of Palestinians from Turkeys president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country stands alone in the Muslim world as one of Tel Avivs dependable partners.
In the fallout following US president Donald Trumps designation of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel there have been condemnations across the Arab world. Turkey has been a loud voice in this process. Erdogan hosted an emergency summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul. At the end of the conference, Turkey announced it would recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine and open an embassy there. Erdogans attempts to lead the defence of Jerusalem have caused tension with Arab leaders over broader regional affairs.
There was, however, something missing from Turkeys verbose proclamations of support for the Palestinian people: a plan to cut economic ties with Israel. Beyond the popularity of the Tel Aviv-Istanbul flight route, Turkey enjoys a vibrant economic relationship with Israel crowned by shared attempts to upend the European natural gas market.
In 2009, Israel discovered large reserves of natural gas off its Mediterranean coast. While the exact size of the gas fields is unknown, they are rumoured to contain at least 150 years worth of reserves. The problem is how best to export the gas to European markets keen to wean themselves off Russias supply. Instead of working with Cyprus and Greece or investing in liquefaction units, Tel Aviv has been partnering closely with Ankara to create a pipeline into Turkey. The prospect of this energy partnership has helped smooth the political tensions between the two countries that had bubbled to the surface in the past seven years.
As part of its attempts to make itself an international energy trading hub, Turkey has worked closely with Israel and Iraqi Kurdistan to create pipelines that bring hydrocarbon resources into Turkey and then export them to European markets. In July, Bloomberg reported Turkey was pushing Israel to lean on Cyprus in the hopes of persuading the Cypriots to allow a pipeline connecting Israel and Turkey to pass through their territory. The economic partnership is not limited to natural gas. As a result of the Syrian civil war, Turkey has been using Israels Haifa port as an important gateway to landlocked countries such as Jordan. Turkish goods used to flow through Syria but now they go through Israel.
The economic relationship aside, Erdogan has made support of Palestinians a key part of his domestic populist appeal. With his fervent support of the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoot in Gaza, Hamas, Erdogan has used the issue of Palestine to maintain relevance after the Arab Spring. Turkey used its stable position at the outset of the uprisings to push for a complete transformation of the Middle East. Ankara had hoped the Muslim Brotherhood would come to power and Turkey would emerge as a neo-Ottoman regional superpower.
This strategy failed. Erdogan found himself under attack at home from protesters of all stripes and fighting to solidify his regional power after betting on the wrong side in the Arab Spring. As a result, the logical solution for Erdogan was to wholeheartedly embrace the Palestinian struggle. The Turkish Legation in Israel was further upgraded to the level of Embassy in January 1980. In March 1992, the mutual diplomatic relations were raised once again to the Ambassadorial level and a Turkish Ambassador presented his credentials to Israeli President Chaim Herzog in Tel-Aviv.
Israel, meanwhile, has maintained two diplomatic missions in Turkey: an embassy in the capital city of Ankara, and its Consulate General in Turkeys largest city, Istanbul.
In 2005, Turkish Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Israel offering to serve as a Middle East peace mediator and looking to build trade and military ties with the Jewish State. Erdoğan met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Moshe Katsav and also laid a wreath at Yad Vashem. Erdoğan told Sharon that his Justice and Development Party regarded anti-Semitism as a crime against humanity.
In early 2006, the Israeli Foreign Ministry described its countrys relations with Turkey as perfect. In November 2007, Israeli President Shimon Peres met with Turkish President Abdullah Gl, and addressed the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
Relations between the two nations began to strain following Turkeys condemnation of Israels Operation Cast Lead in the winter of 2008-2009. In October 2009, Turkey barred Israel from participating in the joint Anatolian Eagle military exercise, to which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying Turkey could no longer work as a peace mediator, stating Turkey cant be [an] honest broker, between Syria and Israel.
In early 2009, Erdoğan harshly criticized Israels conduct in Gaza at the World Economic Forum conference in Davos, Switzerland. In front of Israeli President Peres, Erdoğan said: I find it very sad that people applaud what you said. You killed people. And I think that it is very wrong. Relations between the countries further soured following the Gaza Flotilla Incident of May 2010, when eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American were killed by Israeli troops while aboard a convoy attempting to break Israels blockade of Gaza. Erdoğan described the raid as state terrorism and Turkey immediately recalled its ambassador from Israel and summoned the Israeli ambassador to demand an explanation. The Turkish Foreign Ministry stated that the incident could lead to irreparable consequences in bilateral relations.
On September 2, 2011, Turkey downgraded diplomatic ties with Israel and suspended military cooperation after the UN released its report on the flotilla incident. Turkey demanded an Israeli apology and compensation for the dead; Israel refused. Kemal Kılıdaroğlu, Turkeys opposition leader, condemned the downgrade in relations with Israel while Faruk Logoglu, a deputy chairman of the opposition Republican Peoples Party, also criticized Erdoğan for the diplomatic severing of ties.
Although Turkish and Israeli intelligence agencies have been working together since 1958, strategic intelligence cooperation came to prominence between Turkey and Israel in the early 1990s, with signed agreements between the Mossad and Turkeys National Intelligence Organization (MIT). While carrying out missions in neighboring countries, the Mossad would use Turkey as a buffer zone to ensure their safety and security while returning from or travelling to their objectives.
The writer specialises on global affairs
