Remember the days when Turkey looked West? When Turkey fervently wished to join the European Union? When Turkey was a firm ally of Israel, and participated in joint military exercises with the Jewish state? When Turkey was the one shining example of a Muslim country with a secular government?
It seems so long ago, doesn’t it?
Now Turkey looks East; boasts an economy that does not need the EU and, in fact, probably considers itself lucky not to be on the hook for bailing out Greece; has shut down relations with Israel; and proudly casts itself as the role model for the Arab Spring.
But Turkey has encountered unexpected dilemmas and shown itself not to be above hypocrisy.
Turkey’s primary dilemma is Syria. It wasn’t going to work for Turkey to cast itself as a role model for the Arab Spring — for the anti-authoritarian rebels from Egypt to Libya to Tunisia —and also to sustain its friendship with the butcher in Damascus. How inconvenient, this Bashar Assad! How not nice of him to make Turkey choose between dispensing political wisdom to the Arab Spring and keeping its friendship with its Syrian ally.
Yet, for rejecting the Syrian leader’s brutality, Turkey now finds itself flooded with Syrian refugees, whom, to Turkey’s credit, it treats well; but a humanitarian headache is the least of Turkey’s woes.
Accidentally or otherwise, Turkey invaded Syrian airspace last June and Assad had no qualms about downing the plane. That shows how little trust Turkey still held in Syria’s eyes. And last Oct. 3, Syrian mortar shells hit a Turkish border town, killing five civilians. Whether this was an accident or not, Turkey retaliated.
For one single mortar barrage, in which four Turks were killed, the leader of Turkey declared: “We’re not interested in war, but we’re not far from it either.”
For thousands of missiles fired from Gaza into Israel, 2005-2008, Turkey became a poster boy for apoplexy when Israel retaliated.
And last week, Turkey closed its airspace to Syria because, Turkey charges, a Syrian passenger liner shuttled weapons from Russia to Syria. No proof was provided, and how many arms could be boarded on a passenger flight anyway? But no matter. Turkey has put in place an air blockade of Syria — for one single arms shipment.
For thousands of attempted arms deliveries to Gaza, in response to which Israel put in place a naval blockade of Gaza, Turkey virtually cut its diplomatic ties with Israel. Turkey’s leader Prime Minister Recap Tayip Erdogan flushed with rage as he denounced Israel in the most extreme terms.
Repeat: one single Turkish F-4 jet downed; one single mortar fired into Turkey; one single civilian flight over Turkey — and Turkey is on the brink of war with Syria.
But for thousands of mortars and missiles lobbed into Israel from Gaza, and for countless attempts by Turks and others at running a blockade of Gaza, whose rulers swear to destroy Israel, Turkey thinks Israel should sit tight.
It’s OK to retaliate — if you’re Turkey. But not if you’re Israel. For Turkey, when the shoe is on the other foot, hypocrisy is the only alternative.
It seems clear that it is neither Israel’s retaliation against Hamas in Gaza nor Israel’s interception of a Turkish ship seeking to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza that really bothers Turkey. Rather, Turkey wants to be an Islamic government. Turkey wants to revive, in some sense, the Ottoman Empire. Turkey wants to flex its muscles. Turkey wants to take pride of place in the Sunni Muslim world. Turkey wants to sever any ties with a Jewish state. Nothing Israel does or does not do will have any impact on this recrudescence of global Islamic ambition.
Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News
