2 - 8 August 2001
Issue No.545
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 2 - 8 August 2001 Issue No.545 |
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Tying things up
Last week's visit by Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem to Cairo came at a time when Arab capitals are again uneasy at a revival in Turkish-Israeli relations. Gareth Jenkins reports from Ankara
Turkish officials announced that the main purpose of Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem's visit to Egypt was to discuss ways in which Ankara could help restart the collapsed Middle East peace process. But a recent growth in ties between Turkey and Israel, after nearly a year of abeyance, have raised doubts in the Arab world about Ankara's ability to act as honest broker.
The rapprochement between Turkey and Israel dates back to 1996, when the two countries' militaries signed a defence training agreement. Over the next four years, Israeli firms won a string of defence contracts in Turkey. The two countries conducted joint naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean and shared intelligence, particularly on Kurdish rebel and radical Islamist groups. Closer military relations were underpinned by a rapid increase in economic ties, ranging from tourism and agriculture to plans to sell Turkish water to Israel.
Both privately and publicly, Turkish officials insisted that the improvement in relations was limited to cooperation in specific areas, and that Ankara had no intention of forming a strategic alliance with Israel.
Relations cooled in summer 2000, when Turkey's general staff cancelled several planned defence contracts with Israeli firms and negotiations to sell water to Israel became mired in an ill-tempered dispute about price. An outpouring of Turkish public sympathy for the Palestinians following the beginning of the second Intifada in September 2000 effectively forced Turkish officials to put the relationship with Israel on hold. Relations chilled still further in early 2001 when the Turkish air force complained that a massive upgrade of its F-4 fighters by the Israelis was defective. After prolonged wrangling, the Israelis finally agreed to rectify the faults without charge.
The incident has made the Turkish military wary of awarding new defence contracts to Israeli firms, but, nevertheless, Turkey also knows that Israel may be its only powerful friend in an increasingly friendless world. Ankara's relations with the EU have been strained by Turkey's intransigence over Cyprus and its insistence that Ankara have a veto over the deployment of the Rapid Reaction Force the EU plans as part of its European Strategic and Defence Policy (ESDP). Turkey's threat to force the EU to accede to its demands over ESDP by using its veto in NATO has also exasperated the US, as has the Turkish government's continued failure to implement the economic reform programme agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and which the US taxpayer ultimately finances.
As a result, Turkey has again turned to Israel. Last month, the two countries' air forces conducted their first ever joint exercise. On 9 July, Israeli Defence Minister Ben Eliezer visited Ankara, and was followed last Friday by Israeli Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, a man vilified in the Arab world and increasingly in much of Europe as a war criminal, is due to pay an official visit to Turkey on 8 August.
"It is true that we applied the brakes to both military and political ties with Israel last year as chances for peace were losing ground," a Turkish diplomat told the English-language Turkish Daily News. "Turkey thus sought to deter Israel from its violent acts against the Palestinians. But now there is a Mitchell report that is agreeable to both parties, despite some reservations, making the resumption of our military ties with Israel possible."
Yet there is little doubt that discussions about improving military ties now extend far beyond training or defence industry contracts. After his visit to Ankara last month, Ben Eliezer told journalists that Turkey and Israel were planning a regional missile defence shield. Turkish Foreign Ministry officials quickly assured Arab ambassadors that Ankara had no such plans. But privately, military sources confess that cooperation between Israel and Turkey to counter the perceived missile threat from Iran and Iraq has been, and will continue to be, on the agenda at talks between the two countries' militaries.
"You can call it whatever you want," a source close to the Turkish military said. "But in practice, we are moving towards a strategic alliance or partnership with Israel. I mean, who else are we going to form one with?"
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