by DILIP HIRO
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and Israel’s Prime Minister Shimon Peres at a World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in 2009.
YT
In the changing contours of the Middle East, swept along by the Arab Spring, nothing is perhaps as dramatic as the rise of Turkey. Several factors, domestic and foreign, have coalesced to lift the nation’s standing in the region to new heights. Turkey’s rising trajectory was highlighted by the rock-star reception accorded to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his recent tour of the Arab Spring states of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya and high-profile meetings during the annual session of the UN General Assembly.
By achieving landslide victories in three successive general elections since 2002 – the latest in June – Erdogan set a record at home. He has also caught Arabs’ imagination as they struggle for a suitable input in the running of their countries. Many find the Turkish model enticing: the moderate Islamic Justice and Development Party, AKP, in office; a secular constitution; a strong military subservient to the elected civilian authority; and an expanding economy.
Erdogan boosted his popularity by responding robustly to Israel’s refusal to make a reconciliatory gesture to repair strained relations with Ankara or discontinue its hard line toward the Palestinians. Earlier, in June 2010, he had underlined Ankara’s increasingly independent diplomacy by refusing to toe Washington’s line on imposing further sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program.
The expulsion of Israeli Ambassador Gabby Levy on 2 September by the Erdogan government marked a new low in Turkey-Israel relations, since the May 2010 assault by Israeli commandos on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish-flagged vessel in international waters that resulted in the death of nine Turks.
The relationship began deteriorating in February 2006, after the Turkish government hosted a Hamas delegation soon after Hamas had won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council. Despite its electoral victory, Hamas remains on Israeli and US lists of terrorist organizations.
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