Gaza being one of the world's most densely populated settlements, an increasing part of the casualties is Palestinian civilians, women and children, The Israeli aggression has led to great indignation among nearly all segments of Turkish society because this is surely an unjust war. As The Economist rightly commented: "A war must pass three tests to be justified. A country must first have exhausted all other means of defending itself. The attack should be proportionate to the objective. And it must stand a reasonable chance of achieving its goal. On all three of these tests Israel is on shakier ground than it cares to admit." (Dec. 30, 2008) It is, unfortunately, also true that in Turkey this war is being exploited for condemnation of Jews by anti-Semitic racists and of the West by ultranationalists. Obviously, those responsible for this unjust war are neither the Jewish people nor the West as a whole. An important part of the world's and Israel's Jewish people and the peoples of the West strongly denounce the Israeli aggression. All members of the UN Security Council except for the United States have called for an end to hostilities.
There is undoubtedly widespread sympathy for the Palestinian people in Turkey. When Israel attacked the West Bank and nearly killed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in April 2002, Turkey's ("secular") prime minister, Bülent Ecevit, said, "A genocide is being perpetrated against the Palestinian people." When Israel attacked Gaza in March 2004 and killed Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Turkey's ("Islamist") prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, declared Israel a "terrorist state." He called the recent attack against Gaza a "crime against humanity." He also said he regarded this "ruthless" aggression as "an act of disrespect towards Turkey," coming barely four days after the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Ankara, which has been involved in active diplomacy to secure peace between Israel on one hand and Palestinians and Syria on the other.
Israel's aggression has united even Turkey's National Security Council (MGK), which brings together the country's civilian leaders and military commanders, who often disagree. The council said in a statement that the military operation should be stopped immediately, that parties should give diplomacy a chance, that humanitarian aid should be allowed to reach Palestinian people in Gaza and that Palestinians should reach a compromise as soon as possible. A total of 136 deputies out of the 316 members of the Turkey-Israel Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group have resigned.
In response to a question as to whether the developments in Gaza would affect ties with Israel, however, government spokesman and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek without hesitation stated, "Though there have been ups and downs in the political relationship between Turkey and Israel, military ties are not expected to be affected because of the depth of that relationship, which serves Turkey's national interest."
The attack on Gaza is not expected to have a lasting impact on relations with Israel mainly because Ankara believes that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state is absolutely necessary for peace and stability in its region and the world as a whole. It is equally convinced that Israel living within secure borders at peace with its neighbors is also a must for the region. On these grounds, it will continue diplomatic efforts to facilitate peace between Israel and its neighbors. Ankara has, on the other hand, substantial economic and military interests in relations with Israel. Israel is not only supplying Turkey valuable military intelligence, but is also involved in nearly $2 billion worth of defense industry cooperation with Turkey. Ankara, lacking a Turkish lobby in the US, (if not always successfully) relies on the Israeli lobby to balance the influence of the Greek and Armenian lobbies.
Looking at the relationship from the Israeli side, strong ties with Turkey, which is a member of the Western alliance and has a Muslim majority but is secular, certainly have great psychological and strategic value. This is why, although Israeli authorities find Prime Minister Erdoğan emotional and accuse him of disregarding Israel's side of the story and making statements that conflict with "the way friendly countries talk about each other," they do not expect that the Gaza attack will have a lasting impact on relations. (The Jerusalem Post, Jan. 1)
But if Israel wants to win over the support of Turkish, as well as world, public opinion, it will have to realize as soon as possible that it cannot achieve security by military means alone, that it needs to negotiate and make a deal with Palestinians, including Hamas, and with Syria on the principles laid down by none other than Prime Minister Olmert just three months ago and end the occupation and recognize the independence of a Palestinian state with 1967 borders. This is the only way Israel can achieve lasting peace and security for its people, who surely deserve it.
