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Turkish-Israeli alliance did not end; it assumed a new meaning

Ergün Kirlikovali - 11/17/2009

America’s failure to reason with Israel on excesses in Gaza and settlements seems to have jolted Turkey out of what some call a slumber and others a pro-American straitjacket. Daily dose of TV news showing Palestinian women and children killed proved too much for Turkish viewers. Turkey, with its new foreign policy based on “zero problems with neighbors” asserted itself, somewhat convincingly, as a determined, powerful, and independent actor in the epi-center of a vast and troubled region that extends from the Balkans to the Middle East and North Africa and from the Caucasus to Central Asia and beyond. Turkish-Israeli alliance is not over; it just assumed a new meaning, shape, and content. Gone are the days of treating Turkey as a sleeping gentle giant with no influence or say on matters in its own backyard.


The direction of Turkey-Iran relations are a different matter. The emergence of Iran as a regional actor has more to do with America’s destruction of Iraq, which overturned the balance of power in the Gulf, than anything else. Today, Iran cultivates and enjoys considerable influence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and even to Zaidi rebels in northern Yemen. Separate but closely associated accelerating effect on the growing stature of Iran as a new hope for many Arabs in the region, arguably, comes from Israel’s inflexible policies.

Not to see these multi-faceted but converging developments is to miss the boat to power play in the new Middle East. Time is not to preach gloom and doom, or more death and destruction, but a calm invitation to reason, moderation, and compromise towards a just and sustainable peace. It is never too late for reasoned and fair talks.