Israel thought at center of Obama Turkey talks
Expert: No possible reason for urgent weekend conversation other than escalating Israel-Turkey tensions.
By Natasha Mozgovaya Tags: Turkey Barack Obama Israel newsU.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish President Abdullah Gul spoke by telephone Saturday about a range of issues, reflecting the broad strategic dialogue the United States conducts with this key ally.
Though it was not announced that the topic of recent escalating tensions between Israel and Turkey was discussed, "my guess is that Israel was definitely mentioned in this conversation," Soner Tagaptay, director of Turkish research at the Washington Institute, told Haaretz.
"There is no pressing business between the U.S. and turkey now to necessitate an urgent weekend call," he continued. "Israel and turkey have cooperated militarily since the 1950s - sometimes openly, sometimes covertly - but never has the level of bad blood gotten to the point to give the sense of the beginning of a meltdown."
"It's a huge shift in policy," he went on to say. "Basically, Turkey is kicking Israel out of a NATO exercise and telling Israel they won't support a strike against Iran's nukes. This is the issue that is a big concern for Washington. The relations in the region are a matter of big concern."
The two Presidents also discussed the historic progress that is being made on normalization of relations between Turkey and Armenia, and the importance of maintaining the momentum in this important effort. They also reviewed the situation in Afghanistan.
Obama expressed appreciation for Turkey's contributions, and the two leaders agreed to work closely together in the critical weeks ahead.
The two Presidents agreed on the importance of continued consultations on these and other key topics on the global security agenda.
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I agree with your assumption. But I have a conviction that Israel has no longer a need to rely on the West, and that its future lies now with Africa, India and China... It is a new dawn in the world map,and it surely will require a vision to accept the idea of a need to able Israel make a very powerful that will reposition it in a less quantative deficit in the globe that is stuck against it now. We need the billions of souls that are more likely to accept Israel as a legitimate member in the World of Nations.
Turkey is important for EU and USA. Israel likes to believe it is, but in the end it is not very important.
For G's sake, do your part in putting anti-Semitic Islamism in Turkey away. Press Turkey to be a responsible, decent country.
Saudi ties date back to WWII, and Turkey fought with America in Korea and supported America throughout the cold war. America owes much to Turkey.
Knowing how Obama works, he probably suggested a possible compromise: move the anti-Semitic Turkish TV show showing Israeli soldiers happily murdering poor innocent Palestinians to late night from prime time.
They talked about Armenia and Afghanistan, and the man you can't spell his name is a neoconservative wannabe. Try harder next time.