Erdoan to visit Gaza as Israel ties remain in deep freeze

[-SINAN-]

"Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Sunday that he will stick to his plan to travel to Gaza and visit the coastal strip in late May, a day after he insisted that Turkey will not send an ambassador to Israel unless Israel lifts the blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.
In an unexpected gesture aimed at restoring normal ties with Turkey after a three-year crisis, Israel apologized to Turkey on March 22 for what it called “operational mistakes that might have led to deaths” on the Gaza-bound aid ship Mavi Marmara in May 2010. Eight Turks and one Turkish American were killed on the ship. Infuriated, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and suspended military agreements with Israel after Israel refused to comply with Turkish demands for an apology and compensation for victims of the attack and families of the dead. Ankara also linked normalization of ties to the lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

On March 22, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a formal apology and promised compensation for families of the victims and those injured during the Israeli raid on Mavi Marmara during a telephone conversation with Erdoğan in what appeared to be a peace initiative brokered by US President Barack Obama, who was on a visit to Israel. The lifting of the Gaza blockade, however, is not part of the deal.

Since then, Erdoğan has insisted that the lifting of the blockade is a condition for normal ties and said he would visit Gaza to monitor the status of the blockade. The visit is reportedly opposed by the United States, which presses Turkey for a speedy normalization with Israel in the wake of the Israeli apology. During a visit to İstanbul on March 7, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the US wanted the Turkish-Israeli relations to get back on track as soon as possible. Following Kerry's meetings in Ankara, Erdoğan has said he would visit Gaza after traveling to Washington for talks with Obama in mid-May, changing his previous plans to visit Gaza in April.

Speaking to a group of journalists en route to Turkey from a visit to Mongolia on Saturday, Erdoğan also said Turkey will not send an ambassador to Israel until the blockade of Gaza is lifted, when responding to a question on whether the appointment of an ambassador is imminent.

In İstanbul, Kerry said Turkey has a critical role in a US-led initiative to resume a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Although there has been no statement on what this role could be, the US is believed to see Turkey as a conduit for talks with Hamas, convincing Hamas to recognize Israel and act in unity with al-Fatah of President Mahmoud Abbas. Analysts say Erdoğan's Gaza visit may turn into a welcome development if Erdoğan uses the visit as an opportunity to talk to Hamas about joining peace talks alongside al-Fatah.

Erdoğan complained that Israel “has not genuinely kept its promises” by continuing with attacks on Gaza and reiterated opposition to categorization of Hamas as a “terrorist” entity. When asked if Hamas is being left out of a US-led Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative, Erdoğan said: “This is what Israel wants. We have been saying from the beginning that a negotiating table where Hamas or al-Fatah is not represented cannot produce peace. It is out of the question for us to consider Hamas as a terrorist organization. For us, Hamas is what al-Fatah is.” His remarks were published in newspapers on Sunday.

In addition to complications stemming from Erdoğan's Gaza trip and the blockade of Gaza, normalization with Israel also faces delays in regards to compensation talks between Turkey and Israel. An Israeli delegation was expected to visit Turkey to work out compensation plans on April 12, but the talks were delayed to April 22 after victims said they had no plan to drop criminal cases against Israeli commanders involved in the Mavi Marmara raid.

Erdoğan said the arrival of the Israeli delegation was delayed because Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, who will head the Turkish delegation in the talks, joined him in his tour of Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia."

Self note: Seems like no normalization near.

 

[somebozo]

Erdogan is trying to behave like the new Ottoman sultan!

 

[FireFistAce]

He is doing the right thing, we need friendship of arabs more than friendship of Israel.

 

[-SINAN-]

Erdogan is trying to behave like the new Ottoman sultan!

Do you think is it bad or good ?

 

[anonymus]

Erdogan is trying to behave like the new Ottoman sultan!

He would be as lucky as last one.

 

[T-123456]

He is doing the right thing, we need friendship of arabs more than friendship of Israel.

Could you explain why we need the Arab friendship more then the Israeli?

 

[TurAr]

Could you explain why we need the Arab friendship more then the Israeli?

We don't need Arab friendship but their money, however Arabs are offering their friendship along with their money/investments which is extra nice.

We don't need Israeli friendship either but their influence in USA via its diaspora and its technology.

If i had to chose one between them however, IMO having Arabs is much much more beneficial than Israel for us, both in the long and the short run.

 

[somebozo]

We don't need Arab friendship but their money, however Arabs are offering their friendship along with their money/investments which is extra nice.

We don't need Israeli friendship either but their influence in USA via its diaspora and its technology.

If i had to chose one between them however, IMO having Arabs is much much more beneficial than Israel for us, both in the long and the short run.

arab friendship always comes at a price..Free Turkish Army if you are willing to accept that.

 

[FireFistAce]

Could you explain why we need the Arab friendship more then the Israeli?

The greatest reason is trade.

First off, israel is a country, arab world is almost a continent, so there are plenty of opportunities to seize there.

Iraq is now the second largest trade partner of turkey. Turkey, Iraq in Rising Diplomatic Spat - WSJ.com

Almost all other arab countries are potential markets for our goods in exchange for resources, especially oil.
We need to defy our huge reliance on Iran for oil, which automatically suggests arab friendship (along with turkic states).

In the past we used to import arms from Israel, but i'm sure we will not export it to israel in the next couple of decades. However, arabs desperately need arms we can provide to them. Like, egypt is going to buy Anka, UAE is going to buy cirit, SA may buy Atak and so on....

Israel is hugely dependent on US both economically and politically. With US's shrinking budget for foreign policy, we may not be far from chaos in Israel. Which suggests we should walk away slowly, before we get involved to it.

 

[TurAr]

arab friendship always comes at a price..Free Turkish Army if you are willing to accept that.

I didn't understand what you are trying to say mate? But as i said, friendship is just a bonus of it, if it has a price, then we would push it to the backround and solely correlate within the framework of interests.

What do you think the price might be anyway?

 

[T-123456]

Why not keep relations with both,do we have to choose?
As i said before,bussines with all.
Keep ties good with all,we shouldnt have to make a choise.

 

[FireFistAce]

Why not keep relations with both, do we have to choose?
As i said before,bussines with all.
Keep ties good with all,we shouldnt have to make a choise.

Not necessarily, at least for the time being. Actually, that's what's going on right now, and that's what I like about our current policy.

The bilateral trade between turkey and Israel has not changed a bit since mavi marmara raid.

However that's because israel still hopes to gain our friendship again, that's why they are not disturbing the trade.

In the long run, we will have to choose a side and stick to it, because Arabs and Israel never get along, and in the game of politics you cannot act as a double agent.

And when you do choose a side, in the long run, the other side will automatically leave you.

 

[T-123456]

Well after the visit to Gaza we will see,he will make one of his fantastic speeches again.
Then the choise will be obvious.

 

[-SINAN-]

I want to draw your attention to the "Turkey's Trade policy Review" prepared by World Trade Organization.

Middle East:

​

Over the last decade, the Middle East countries have become a crucial country group within the scope of Turkey’s trade strategy. As a result of the steady increase in both imports and exports after 2003, Turkey’s total trade volume with the region has increased from US$9.5 billion in 2003 to US$35.9 billion in 2010. The increase in trade volume between 2006 and 2010 is 80%. As of September 2011, Turkey’s trade volume with these countries has been US$35.7 billion, US$20.2 billion of this is Turkey’s exports and US$15.5 of it is Turkey’s imports.

​

For five years since 2006, export of Turkish goods to this region has exceeded imports. However, trade surplus has gradually decreased from US$8 billion in 2009 to US$6 billion in 2010. The foremost reason of this decline is the increase in oil and natural gas imports. Exports of Turkey to the region totaled US$21 billion (18.4% of the total export of Turkey) in 2010

Source: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/g259_e.doc

We are actually doing good in our Middle East policy. . We have been focused on Europe for so many years, it would be much better focusing on ME than Europe.

 

[Boisttt]

Will Erdogan also offer the Palestinians some of their military hardware ? hehe