Ayalon sees ‘moment of opportunity’ for Turkey ties

“Of course, Turkey has the right and it has the obligation to its own people to conduct its foreign policy in its best interests. We don’t expect from Turkey not to deal with the different elements. But we don’t think it should be a zero-sum game. It should not be at the expense of the relations with Israel. I don’t think it serves Turkey and I don’t think it serves the region,” Ayalon told a group of visiting journalists from Turkey on Wednesday, in response to a question about the meeting between Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Damascus-based Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal which took place in İstanbul on Tuesday.

Davutoğlu and Mashaal held a meeting on stalled efforts to create a Palestinian unity government during their unannounced visit. When compared to Israel’s furious reaction at the time to the welcoming of a Hamas delegation led by Mashaal in early 2006, following Hamas’ victory in the Palestinian elections, the response by Ayalon was rather restrained.

“If what will come out of it [Mashaal’s visit] is more condemnation on Israel, then I think it is counterproductive and it is damaging. But if there will be a good influence, then of course we will welcome; absolutely,” Ayalon said. “Absolutely,” he highlighted once more.

“So when we are forward-looking; we should not discuss so much of what happened in last three-five years. Because we cannot change the past; we can only change and affect the future. When it comes to future, I think we are in a golden moment of opportunity for rapprochement and for turning the relations into to put the right track,” Ayalon went on saying.

“I will tell you why I think it is a golden moment of opportunity,” he said. According to Ayalon, there are three main elements that have presented this golden moment.

Ayalon listed these three elements as being: The slight loosening of political tensions now that the June 12 parliamentary elections are over, the “very nice letter” of congratulations sent by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the fact that the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of an international flotilla that attempted to breach an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip last year, will not take part in this year’s trip.

“First of all, he [Netanyahu] congratulated him for his election, he congratulated the Turkish people for their democratic process and for their democratic decision. He talked about our mutual interests and values and that he is very much interested in working together with him for the benefit of the region and the relationship,” Ayalon said, when asked about the content of Netanyahu’s letter to Erdoğan.

Ayalon recalled that Turkey was “among the firsts,” to send assistance when his country had to fight a devastating fire in Israel’s northern city of Haifa in early December 2010.

“It is also something that we will never forget,” he said.

The fact that the Mavi Marmara will not join the flotilla “is also a great opportunity to renew our relations. So there is a golden opportunity and now it is time for political leadership to take courageous steps and meet and discuss everything that needs to be discussed,” he added.

Ayalon’s remarks point to a significant indication that the Israeli government has the will to mend ties with Turkey following a series of diplomatic crises, as Ayalon answered to hawkish Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party -- the largest coalition partner of Netanyahu’s nationalist Likud.

On the day when Mashaal met with Davutoğlu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was in Ankara for talks with President Abdullah Gül.

“We respect Turkey not only on its own and not only in bilateral relations. We also accept and respect the fact that Turkey is a regional power with great historic role and interest so certainly they can consult, try and influence hopefully to the extent of stability and coexistence in all that. So, if for instance today a declaration comes from Ankara, from the meeting of Abu Mazen and Mashaal ‘yes they are going to go with unity’; it is also in our interests that Palestinians have unity. We know that once they sign, they sign for everybody and we don’t have to worry about this. I’m saying, if they come with unity and Hamas says, ‘Yes, we recognize Oslo, no more terror, we recognize Israel, Israel is our partner for peace,’ we would kiss the hands of every Turk,” Ayalon said.