Nadene Goldfoot
Turkey, which was once the Ottoman Empire, had been friends with Israel, but since the growth of the Muslim Brotherhood has been leaning towards their brothers. Their Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger that he planned to burn bridges with Israel to get in better favor with the Islamic world but didn't reveal when that would happen. Their Turkish newspaper also revealed that Turkey doesn't get along with Israel and the United States.
This is a sad note because Turkey has been the first place Israelis head for who are on vacation. They've made good tourists. Turkey was the first Muslim majority country to recognize Israel in March 1949. You have to give them credit. At that time it must have been a hard decision to follow the lead of the USA. The USA has many Turkish Jews who immigrated here and who might be interested in their family roots on vacation as well. It has that aura of the mystique that is so alluring and is fairly close by.
The opportunity came by with the flotilla to Gaza of May 2010 in which 9 Turkish citizens on the ship were killed after attacking the IDF commandos who were trying to board it. Israel was blamed, but Erdogan took advantage of the event quickly by cutting ties with both Israel and the USA and to expand their power.
All this came out in the wash with wikileaks. It was in a leaked email from George Friedman, head of Stratfor, a security -analysis company. I wonder what Kissinger did with this detail. Though Jewish, he hasn't been known for any favors towards Israel. You have to watch out for these fair-weather friends in politics. Easy come-easy go.
However, trade is still an essential ingredient for two countries to make up from their differences. This is still needed and is happening. Erdogan demanded that Netanyahu apologize for the death of his civilians on board the fatal Marmara and the Knesset is against doing so as they were only protecting their lives and were under attack themselves. As I remember, Erdogan was instrumental in their participation, too. Maybe it was part of his basic scheme uncovered here. Oh where is Solomon when you need him? We need a higher most impartial court to settle this one. It's so similar to Israel asking for recognition from the Palestinians and not getting it.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/wikileaks-turkey-wanted-to-burn-bridges-with-israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93Turkey_relations
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alon-benmeir/turkey-and-israel-now-is_b_1532767.html
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