Where to Turkish-Israeli Relations?
In 1492, the Ottoman Empire, the predecessor of Atatürk’s modern Türkiye, opened its doors to Jews after they had been expelled from Spain. Türkiye became the first Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel as an independent state in 1949. In the late 1950s, Türkiye and Israel agreed to expand their cooperation in diplomatic, economic, and military fields during Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion’s visit to Ankara. Relations kept developing.
The 1967 Arab-Israeli war had a negative impact on relations. Türkiye condemned Israel for its occupation of the Palestinian territories and demanded its immediate withdrawal. At the same time, Ankara rejected a demand by the Arab countries to cut off diplomatic relations with Israel. In later years, despite some ups and downs related to developments in Palestine, the relationship remained steady. Eventually, despite their critical public discourse, Arab countries came to admit that Turkish-Israeli cooperation was not a partnership against them.
In November 2002, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in Türkiye. This introduced an element of uncertainty into the relationship.
Nonetheless, in May 2005, Prime Minister Erdoğan visited Israel. A year ago, he had described Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s crackdowns in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as “state terrorism”.
“Our good relations with Israel do not preclude us from making frank criticism,” Erdogan said in an interview before his departure for Israel. “My visit will hopefully provide a new impetus to our relationship.”
Mr. Erdoğan brought a large group of businessmen on his two-day trip, which included talks on with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Moshe Katsav. He laid a wreath at the Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, and said that the AKP regards anti-Semitism as a crime against humanity. “I came here to contribute to the peace process,” he declared at a news conference with Mr. Sharon.
In November 2007, President Shimon Peres paid a state visit to Türkiye, a few months after Mr. Abdullah Gül became President. On November 13, he addressed the Turkish Parliament and expressed optimism that the coming peace conference in the United States would help thaw decades of conflict with the Palestinians. With his address, Peres became the first Israeli president to speak before the legislature of a Muslim country.
“We may be saying different prayers, but our eyes are turned toward the same sky and toward the same vision for the Middle East,” Peres told an audience that included the President of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Peres expressed Israelis’ gratitude to the people in Turkey who opened their doors to Jews when they were expelled from Spain in 1492. “Here, they found a home of tolerance where they could freely practice their religion,” Peres said in his speech.
“I came here to express my gratitude to Turkey,” he said.
Mr. Mahmoud Abbas also addressed the Parliament, becoming the first Palestinian leader to speak there. He thanked Turkey for its support for the Palestinian cause.
The New York Times reported, “Turkey, a member of NATO and Israel’s closest ally in the Islamic world, has in the past played the role of mediator between Israel and its Muslim neighbors.”[i]
Turkish-Israeli economic cooperation and trade continued to expand. Each year thousands of Israeli tourists visited Türkiye.
This was the right policy for Türkiye and the AKP, criticizing Israel in reasonable language when developments justified it but keeping the lines of communication open, thus remaining a promoter of peace in one of the world’s top conflict areas.
As witnessed by those high-level visits, there was no major disturbance until the “one-minute” incident at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 30, 2009, where Prime Minister Erdoğan, in the presence of President Shimon Peres, strongly denounced Israel for its attitude toward the Palestinians. This marked the beginning of the downturn.
The Davos incident was followed by the “Mavi Marmara” tragedy in May 2010. A Turkish NGO organized a flotilla to take humanitarian assistance to Gaza in defiance of the Israeli maritime blockade. Israel warned them that it would not allow this, but the organizers were determined. The Turkish government chose to let the initiative run its course. Finally, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) boarded the flagship of the flotilla, Mavi Marmara, and killed nine Turks. Diplomatic representation in both capitals was brought to the lowest level.
In 2013, President Obama intervened to help put the setback in relations behind. He pressed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to apologize to Mr. Erdoğan over the Mavi Marmara incident. Mr. Netanyahu reportedly apologized to Erdogan over the telephone and Israel paid compensation for the attack.
Later, Türkiye and Israel tried “normalizing” relations. In March 2022 President Herzog visited Ankara. In August 2023, Israel and Turkey announced that they were restoring full diplomatic ties. Soon after, ambassadors arrived in Ankara and Tel Aviv.
What had changed? Israel’s attitude toward the Palestinians? Israel’s designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization? Nothing had changed. But as Türkiye’s relations with Arab countries and Israel soured, Israel had succeeded in establishing diplomatic relations with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco under the Abraham Accords. Continuing with Ankara’s once much-touted policy of “precious loneliness” was no longer an option.
After the October 7 Hamas assault on Israel, Ankara appeared to take a balanced approach to the fighting. Then, President Erdoğan declared that Hamas is not a terrorist organization but a group of mujahidin struggling to liberate their land. Soon, Ankara became the world’s number one critic of Israel, far ahead of Arab countries.
Whatever Israeli leaders say about the Hamas onslaught of October 7 to justify their response, Israel’s total disregard for civilian life in Gaza, the starving of a people that has been living in abject poverty for decades next to one of the world’s most prosperous and advanced nations is more than unacceptable. Many nations who deeply sympathize with the ages of suffering experienced by the Jewish people are appalled by the ferocity of the IDF operations in Gaza. “Unbelievable”, they say. “How can those who have suffered so much can cause so much suffering?” they ask. Thus, Western countries now pay lip-service to the two-state solution. “Lip service” because they all know that this is not in the cards, certainly not with Mr. Netanyahu, and not yet even after him.
A more balanced approach to the war in Gaza would not have prevented Ankara from calling on Israel for restraint in its bombing of Gaza, from strongly criticizing Israel’s far-right government for its total disregard for civilian life and calling for humanitarian pauses and cease-fires. This would have allowed Ankara to engage with other countries with similar concerns. It would have kept our lines of communication open with Israel, the US, and European countries. It would have made Türkiye a dialogue partner for the resolution of the Palestinian question and help keep the “two-state solution” on the international agenda.
After Prime Minister Netanyahu’s last visit to Washington, it appears that calls for a humanitarian pause will not deter him from razing more of Gaza to the ground. The killing of Ismail Haniyeh is more than likely to prove a major obstacle to a ceasefire and a hostage-prisoner exchange. Anyway, the hostages’ return home has hardly been Mr. Netanyahu’s priority. In a must-read article on the Biden-Netanyahu meeting, Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour says that the Haniyeh assassination underlines how the US is often left looking like the junior partner in the relationship with Israel, according to observers.[ii]
However, appearing as if we have completely sided with Hamas and Tehran will once again strain our relations not only with the West but with the Arab countries, particularly the Gulf states as well. Has any Arab leader thanked Ankara for its support for Hamas? No. Maintaining a solid and mutually beneficial relationship with Iran with whom we share a 560-kilometer border and have enjoyed 400 years of peace is another matter.
It is high time for Ankara to show some restraint, criticize the Netanyahu government but not unnecessarily aggressive language, if Ankara is to prioritize Türkiye’s national interests above all else, display some diplomatic harmony with its Western allies and Arab partners, and play a role in bringing peace to the region. If this policy has a domestic political dimension, it is an extremely costly one. Similarly, members of Israel’s far-right government should refrain from provoking Ankara.
Today Russia and the US are at war. Yet, last week’s unprecedented prisoner swap shows that “if there is will there is a way”, but only if the lines of communication are open.
Also, last week, Genco Erkal, a patriot, an intellectual, a strong advocate of Atatürk’s legacy, and a remarkable artist passed away and I am mourning his loss.
[i] https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/world/africa/13iht-peres.3.8315894.html