Jonathan Tobin writes in Contentions, Turks Turned Their Backs on America Before Dumping Israel
By Ted Belman
Prior to the Islamic takeover of Iran in 1979, Iran was a great friend of Israel and nobody much mentioned Turkey which was quite secular at the time.
Now it appears that Iran is our worst enemy and Turkey is competing with them for that honour. Turkey is no longer secular. It has witnessed an Islamic evolution and is now challenging and threatening Israel. It seems that in the Arab/Islamic world whoever challenges IsraeL the most, is viewed most favourably.
Israel Hayom has an article, A Different World by Dror Eydar in which he writes Bernard Lewis, [arguable the world’s foremost expert on Islam]
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“posed a possible future scenario in which both Iran and Turkey replace each other. Iran would change, with its opposition taking over, and would once again be a modern secular republic friendly to Israel. And Turkey would take Iran’s current place.”
Remember that Iranians are not Arabs are are favouably disposed to the US.
Why the West cares about Israel-Turkey relations by Dore Gold suggests the mentality of the Erdogan government, may be abandonning the West. He writes that a 2004 cable from the US State Department, recently released in which a diplomat voiced concern over Ankar’s “new, highly activist foreign policy.” Evidently
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He attended a meeting at the main think tank of Turkey’s ruling AKP party where he heard many in the AKP saying that it is Turkey’s role to spread Islam in Europe. He added that there was “the widespread belief” among the participants in the think tank that Turkey should “avenge the defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1683”– when the Ottoman armies lost to the Hapsburg Empire.
Gold rightly asks,
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“Can Turkey still be viewed as a reliable NATO ally or is it now adopting an approach toward the world based on an Islamist agenda?”
and then reports,
- In late 2009, Davutoglu (the current FM) spoke in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and laid out his approach for Turkey’s foreign policy. According to a State Department report on the speech, Davutoglu said that, “The Balkans, the Caucuses, and the Middle East were all better off when under Ottoman control or influence.”
All eyes are on the current Turkish challenge to Israel to discern whether Turkey can be relied upon as a partner with the West rather than the Islamists. The only problem with this dichotomy, is the distinct possibility that the West is also aligning with the Islamists.
I have an acquaintance (not Jewish ( who just returned from visiting his daughter for two weeks in Ankara. Her husband is Turkish and an an engineer and she is a teacher. He was vague as to their religiosity but when I questioned him as to how women dressed and behaved there he said that it was just like the West. Was he lying, not very observant, or just not very interested in such things? I do not know. But if he was right then there is a disconnect here. Ankara is far more Islamic than Istanbul and perhaps Erdogan’s Islamic bent is not having such an impact upon ordinary Turks as we are being led to believe. I would be interested in hearing from others who have been to Turkey recently as to what they think and have seen.
Israel is much more of a theocracy than Turkey. Erdogan is not an Islamist. He’s been to a mosque twice in his life.
They are two, large, countries presently vying for dominance, if not hegemony, in the same region.
Given the complexion of the region, anti-Israel virulence is clearly a touchstone.
Both are Islamic.
Yet neither is Arab.
And each has a not-too-easy past where Arabs are concerned.
Interesting, for the possibilities…