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Turkey Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
 (Reuters)
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Last update - 11:43 15/10/2009
Turkey's attitude toward Israel is changing
By Zvi Bar'el
Tags: Military, Turkey, Israel news

The cancelation of the joint military exercise marks a significant turn in Turkey?s attitude toward Israel, mostly because of the willingness of the Turkish military to join a decision of the government in Ankara.

What is even more serious is that were it not for the support of the military the government would not have been able to make or implement such an important decision, which has put Turkey at odds with the United States, Italy and other NATO members.

Traditionally there has been a "division of roles" between the Turkish army and the country's governments. The prime ministers and foreign ministers - including those preceding Recep Tayyip Erdogan - openly and sometimes rudely expressed their views on the policies of Israel, but the measure by which Israel weighed the bilateral ties were on the quality of relations with the Turkish military.
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So long as the military enabled Israel to use Turkish airspace, benefited from intelligence cooperation and gave Israeli industry projects for upgrading military hardware or contracts for the supply of equipment, Israel considered Turkish statesmen a burden it could live with, and at times it even ignored them.


Canceling the participation of Israel in the exercise cancels for the first time the "division of roles" between the civilians and the military in Turkey and makes it clear to Israel that Turkey will now speak with a single voice.

At the same time it would be excessive to attribute to Turkey's intentions anything beyond the bilateral relations level. Turkey is not "evicting" Israel in favor of Iran or Syria and canceling Israel's participation does not stem from the fact that Turkey's government has decided to exhibit any extremist Islamist attitudes.

Turkey did not hide its deep opposition to Israel's policies in the territories in general and to Operation Lead Cast in particular. Erdogan's outburst against President Shimon Peres last January at the Davos gathering did not stem from Islamist or pro-Iranian objectives.

Erdogan's support for a UN deliberation of the Goldstone Report and his declaration that "those responsible for war crimes must be identified and held accountable," is not based on any wish to please Iran or Syria. Turkey has a steady and clear policy on this issue and it is not a proxy for any country.

Public opinion exists in Turkey too and it is influential, and when the prime minister sees thousands of Turks protesting against Israel's policy in Jerusalem, he cannot remain indifferent. At the same time, Turkey continues and will continue to have normal ties with Israel because such a relationship is part of Turkey's strategy, but today it finds itself in a different international status, of the sort that allows it to also take swipes at Israel.

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      1.   TOO BAD FOR ISRAEL. 04:49  |  EL 12/10/09
      2.   Becareful what you support 04:57  |  howiej 12/10/09
      3.   we need to boycott Turkish water! 05:09  |  zio jew boy 12/10/09
      4.   Well done Turkey 05:15  |  Nick Ferriman 12/10/09
      5.   Turkey is not the only power shifting policies toward Israel! 05:39  |  Jetset 12/10/09
      6.   an relaiable islamic secular ally 06:40  |  Shmuelshachor 12/10/09
      7.   Turkey IS indeed part of the mediatic globalization. 06:41  |  Fortuna Benmayor 12/10/09
      8.   one night stand 07:18  |  Homunculus 12/10/09
      9.   There is a new alliance 07:19  |  American 12/10/09
      10.   Don`t be naive 07:27  |  American 12/10/09
      11.   Turkey 07:29  |  fredyr 12/10/09
      12.   Ergodan is Islamic 08:34  |  Richard 12/10/09
      13.   Israel had better its act together? 08:49  |  Mark Lincoln 12/10/09
      14.   the death of an illusion a secular muslim country 08:50  |  vhardman 12/10/09
      15.   AKP is Turkish branch of Musl B`hood, what did you expect??? 08:54  |  Secular Turk 12/10/09
      16.   Division of roles? Has veHalila! 09:07  |  Raffaele Ladu 12/10/09
      17.   Turkish interests 10:42  |  ky 12/10/09
      18.   wrong interpretation by Barel, I whould say 11:02  |  mehmet 12/10/09
      19.   #7 12:10  |  Koppers 12/10/09
      20.   TURKEY 12:15  |  Al 12/10/09
      21.   wake up call 12:25  |  eren 12/10/09
      22.   Turks want peace,that is all,who talks about war? 12:41  |  Mark 12/10/09
      23.   Turkey and Israel friendship 12:49  |  Hilda 12/10/09
      24.   TO AL the Armenian liar and hater 12:58  |  Mark 12/10/09
      25.   Leaders go at it and the people are sheep 13:15  |  Mark 12/10/09
      26.   Hilda 13:19  |  proud american 12/10/09
      27.   Good! Too bad Canada`s attitude with the Harper conservatives 15:15  |  jim the mechanic 12/10/09
      28.   23 hilda - Israel is no friend to Turkey. 15:20  |  rdajan 12/10/09
      29.   Previous Largest Trading Partner 15:55  |  Stephen 12/10/09
      30.   Fortuna Benmayor #7 on another planet? 16:14  |  P.Isstaker 12/10/09
      31.   Israel should be clever 16:20  |  Castroman 12/10/09
      32.   The whole worlds attitude is changing 17:00  |  John 12/10/09
      33.   We are sad for Turks 17:02  |  Alp 12/10/09
      34.   A good and growing trend 17:23  |  An American 12/10/09
      35.   Turkey`s attitude toward Israel is changing 17:33  |  steve 12/10/09
      36.   Turkey`s attitude toward Israel is changing 17:36  |  steve 12/10/09
      37.   Turkey and the Kurds vs Israel and the Palestinians 18:12  |  Mark Lincoln 12/10/09
      38.   # 4 Nick 18:19  |  yerushalmi 12/10/09
      39.   turkey is islamic and stands with islam 18:51  |  ali zohorb 12/10/09
      40.   to 20-to Al 18:51  |  Cengiz 12/10/09
      41.   friends and enemies 19:24  |  oz 12/10/09
      42.   Muslim vs. Non-Muslims...forever! 19:43  |  Jerry A G 12/10/09
      43.   The world of endless ignorance 20:19  |  Mark Lincoln 12/10/09
      44.   Edrogen came to turkey as a Islamist and is courting Iran and 04:26  |  ks 13/10/09
      45.   Excellent line #14 16:33  |  Sharon 14/10/09
      46.   objective perspective! 16:57  |  yidod 14/10/09
      47.   Yes! Turkey is a muslim nation. So what? 19:06  |  azad 15/10/09
      48.   AMERICA AND ISRAEL`S ATTITUDE TOWARDS TURKEY IS CHANGING 11:48  |  Petra 18/10/09
      49.   #29 19:44  |  Joseph 18/10/09
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