THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XII, Issue # June 98, June 10, 2010
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ERDOGAN & THE ISRAEL CARD
By Steven J. Rosen
TURKEY'S REACTION TO THE GAZA FLOTILLA INCIDENT: COULD IT BE THAT THERE IS SOMETHING MORE TO
TURKISH PRIME MINISTER RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN'S RAGE AGAINST ISRAEL THAN JUST A SPONTANEOUS REACTION TO
THE LOSS OF NINE TURKISH LIVES IN THE INCIDENT? TURKEY'S 2011 ELECTIONS AS HOLDING THE ANSWER TO THE
QUESTION OF WHY ERDOGAN DECIDED TO PLAY THE ISRAEL CARD -- WHY TURKEY IS FERTILE GROUND FOR ERDOGAN'S
ANTI-ISRAEL & ANTI-SEMITIC DEMAGOGUERY -- ANTI-AMERICANISM IN TURKEY & THE REASONS FOR ITS EXISTENCE --
ANTI-ZIONISM, ANTI-SEMITISM, & ANTI-AMERICANISM AS MUTUALLY REINFORCING & CONVERGING POLITICAL FORCES
IN TURKEY
FULL STORY:
The deaths of nine Turkish citizens in the Gaza flotilla incident would have brought a severe reaction under any
circumstances. What is nonetheless striking in this incident is the unbridled anger and fiercely hostile reaction of
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish public. Mr. Erdogan said Israel was guilty of "state
terrorism" and a "bloody massacre." His Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said "This attack is like 9/11 for
Turkey," comparing it to a premeditated act of aggression that took 2,900 lives.
Mr. Erdogan does not always display such reactions to allegations of human rights violations. Last year, he defended
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, indicted by the International Criminal Court for killing half a million Sudanese
Christians and non-Arab Muslims. In March, 2010, he denied that Turks ever killed Armenian civilians. He labeled a
U.S. congressional resolution on the Armenian deaths "a comedy, a parody." He said that the Turkish military
garrison stationed in Cyprus since 1974 is "not an occupier" but "[ensures] the peace." On tens of thousands of
Kurds killed by Turkish security forces from 1984 to 1999, he says nothing.
Could it be that there is something more to Mr. Erdogan's rage against Israel than just a spontaneous reaction to the
loss of life here?
Turkish elections, 13 months away, hold the answer. Backing for Mr. Erdogan's party has fallen to 29%, the lowest
level since it won power in 2002 and far below the 47% it scored in July, 2007. So, Mr. Erdogan decided to play the
Israel Card.
He tested this tactic in January, 2009, in a confrontation with Israeli President Shimon Peres at Davos. Mr. Peres asked
him in front of the cameras: "What would you do if you were to have in Istanbul every night a hundred rockets?" Mr.
Erdogan shot back, "When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill." Thousands of Turks applauded Mr.
Erdogan's performance, greeting him with a hero's welcome and a sea of Turkish and Palestinian flags upon his return
home to Ataturk Airport.
Mr. Erdogan's anger at the Israeli blockade is even more popular among his countrymen. In fact, 61% of Turks
surveyed in one poll did not find his rage sufficient. "The public is in such a state that they almost want war against
Israel," the pollster commented. "I think this is widespread in almost all levels of society." Mr. Erdogan has become a
hero in the Muslim world, where he is seen as the "new Nasser," in the words of one Saudi writer.
The truth is that friendship toward Israel was always limited to the Turkish secular elites, including the military chiefs.
Turkey is fertile ground for Mr. Erdogan's demagoguery because many ordinary people are raised to dislike Israel and
— dare it be said — Jews. In April, 2010, the BBC World Service Poll found negative views of Israel among 77% of
Turks.
Jews, as a people, fare no better than the Jewish state. In the 2009 Pew Global Attitudes survey, 73% of Turks rated
their opinions of Jews as "negative." Meanwhile, 68% of Turks rated their opinions of Christians as "negative."
Turks don't like the United States much more than they do Israel. The same BBC poll found negative views of the
U.S.A. among 70% of Turks, one of only two countries where perceptions of the United States actually worsened
after the election of Barack Obama (positives fell to 13% from 21%, and negatives increased to 70% from 63%).
Nor is it the case that anti-Americanism in Turkey is primarily a response to U.S. support for Israel. Many Turkish
citizens view the U.S.A. as anti-Muslim and see the war on terror as an anti-Muslim crusade across the Middle East.
Turks resent the rich "imperialist" superpower and believe that the U.S.A. invaded Iraq for oil.
Islamists and the Turkish Left suspect that the U.S.A. and NATO propped up a succession of Turkish governments
backed by the military. Others believe that the U.S.A. supports the Iraqi Kurds and may plan to create a Kurdish state
in Iraq. And most remain convinced that members of the U.S. Congress who vote for Turkish genocide resolutions do
so under the influence of Armenian-Americans, who are more numerous than Americans of Turkish origin.
Anti-American feelings in Turkey exist independently of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, but these three phenomena
are mutually reinforcing and convergent. More disturbingly, parallels to these trends pervade much of the Muslim
world. What the flotilla incident demonstrates is that igniting this tinderbox of hostility toward Israel, Jews, and
America does not take much of a spark.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Turkey, the Middle East, & the U.S.A.
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
Israel & the Arabs -- The Israeli-Arab Conflict
Middle East: Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Steven J. Rosen is the Director of the Washington Project of the Middle East Forum.
The foregoing article by Mr. Rosen was originally published in the Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2010, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/2668/erdogan-and-the-israel-card)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
June 10, 2010
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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