25 April - 1 May 2002
Issue No.583
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 25 April - 1 May 2002 Issue No.583 |
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Setting an example
The foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece are planning an unprecedented joint visit to Israel and Palestine to tell Sharon that even bitter enemies can make peace, writes Gareth Jenkins from Istanbul
On Sunday Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem vowed to push ahead with a planned joint visit with his Greek counterpart George Papandreou to Palestine later this week, even though the Israeli government has yet to confirm that the delegation will be allowed to meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
"Unless an inconvenience emerges, the visit we plan to pay with Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou will take place towards the end of this week," Cem told the CNN Turk television channel.
The initiative was proposed by Papandreou earlier this month as a symbolic move to demonstrate that rapprochement is possible even between the bitterest of historical foes.
"We are the ministers of two states who have been at odds," said Papandreou. "We have managed to talk to each other. If we manage this, that means there is hope that others can manage as well."
But hope has not been a word that is frequently associated with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. On Friday, Greek officials complained that the Israelis were still refusing to confirm that Papandreou and Cem would be able to meet with Arafat.
"The two ministers have already made it clear that they will refuse to visit the region unless they are assured of meeting with Arafat," said a Greek official.
Turkish officials have been more upbeat. "The Israelis have not said that they won't be able to meet with Arafat," commented a Turkish diplomat, adding that Papandreou and Cem currently aim to meet with Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and perhaps even Sharon himself.
The visit comes at a time when the Turkish government is under increasing public pressure to take a more active role in opposing the ongoing Israeli military operations against the Palestinians. Street protests and anti-Israeli rallies have become an almost daily occurrence, not just in major Turkish cities such as Ankara and Istanbul but also in small towns across Anatolia. Ironically, the Sharon government has succeeded in uniting virtually all of Turkey's numerous feuding factions and interest groups. For the first time ever, arch enemies such as radical leftists, Islamists and ultra nationalist Kemalists have marched together with trade unionists, feminists and even gay rights organisations to protest the Israeli operations in the West Bank.
Last week Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit issued yet another apology to the Jewish people for describing the Israeli military operations as a "genocide" after he came under intense pressure from the powerful Jewish lobby in the US. But on Friday even Ecevit was forced to speak out after the Israelis refused to grant permission to the Turkish Red Crescent to dispatch an aid convoy to the Palestinians.
"The Israeli authorities are blocking aid organisations," Ecevit told the Turkish parliament. "It is a human duty to lift this obstacle as soon as possible. The human tragedy on Palestinian lands should be stopped immediately."
The Israeli government finally relented and on Sunday four trucks of aid set off from Turkey for Palestine. Turkish Red Crescent officials admit that, given the scale of the humanitarian disaster in the occupied territories, four trucks can make only a small contribution to alleviating the suffering.
"We wanted to show the Palestinians that the Turkish people support them and we hope that we can supply more aid in the future," said a Turkish Red Crescent official.
Public outrage over the Israeli operations against the Palestinians has also raised doubts about the future of Turkish- Israeli relations. Growing military and defence industry ties between Turkey and Israel have meant that in recent years celebrations at the Israeli Embassy in Ankara to mark the country's Independence Day have attracted a host of leading government and military officials. But the celebrations held last Wednesday were attended by only one member of the government, Culture Minister Istemihan Talay, who stayed for five minutes before hurriedly departing for what he claimed was a prior engagement. Even the Turkish military, which has traditionally been the most vigorous proponent of closer ties with Israel, was only represented by a major-general.
For many Turks, however, merely adopting a lower profile is no longer enough. On Tuesday Recai Kutan, the leader of the Islamist Felicity Party called on the government to go one step further.
"We must suspend our economic, military, diplomatic and political relations with Israel until it ends its incursions," he said. "This is what is required by both international law and the wishes of our people."
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