Erdogan reiterates many times his stupid demands for Israeli amends over last year's high seas seizure of the Mavi Marmara propaganda ship. From Ankara to Brussels, the condemnation of the only longstanding democracy in the Middle East is always swift and unequivocal. The United Nations, the European Union, and the Arab League engage in a frenzy of denunciation, even before all the facts are established. http://venitism.blogspot.com
On its current trajectory, Turkey's traditional strategic relationship with the West is likely to be replaced with a looser affiliation as Turkey enters into closer alignment with Iran and other Middle Eastern powers hostile to West. The West and NATO should not stand idly by watching this happen. The U.S., in concert with its European allies, needs to address the serious differences that are emerging and encourage Turkey to be a strong regional partner, not a competitor.
Israel continues to be the U.N.'s favorite whipping boy. In the past four years, three quarters of the resolutions passed by the U.N. Human Rights Council(HRC) have condemned Israel. Israel always faces hypocrisy and a biased rush to judgment. When you look at what Turks have been doing in the Middle East, it's very much influenced by their belief that they are the most important country in the region, the most powerful country in the region, the one country that has relationships with everybody, and the one country that now people listen to. http://venitism.blogspot.com
Israel, whose marine commandos killed nine Turks asserts its soldiers acted in self-defense. Israel is a bastion of freedom and Graecoroman culture, an economic miracle, and a leader in science and technology. Israel is the only free country in a region dominated by Arab monarchies, theocracies and dictatorships. It is only the citizens of Israel, Arabs and Jews alike, who enjoy the right to express their views, to criticize their government, to form political parties, to publish private newspapers, to hold free elections.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman points out it is clear that Erdogan is looking not for accommodation, nor peace, nor normalization, but wants to humiliate the State of Israel, sap its international standing, and harm its status in the region.
Lieberman is surprised Erdogan didn't also demand that Israeli set the retirement age for women, referring to a recent domestic political dispute! Erdogan has no intention of arriving at normalization with Israel. Erdogan has shut the door. The Erdogan government has a very big vision for itself, and it is partially driven by religion and culture and partially by vanity. They think they can do things that Europeans and Americans cannot do. They think that because of the Ottoman heritage and because of the cultural relationship with the rest of the world, they have a window to the rest of the world.
When Islamists deny the most basic freedoms to their own people, it is obscene for them to start claiming that Israel is violating the Palestinians' rights. All Muslims who are genuinely concerned with human rights should, as their very first action, seek to oust their own despotic rulers and adopt the type of free society that characterizes Israel. http://venitism.blogspot.com
The overtures were made in several rounds of low-key talks between Israeli and Turkish delegates in Geneva and New York. When Israel ended its occupation of Gaza, it did not impose a blockade. Indeed it left behind agricultural facilities in the hope that the newly liberated Gaza Strip would become a peaceful and productive area. Instead Hamas seized control over Gaza and engaged in acts of warfare against Israel. These acts of warfare featured 10,000 rockets directed at Israeli civilians. This was not only an act of warfare, it was a war crime.
Israel responded to the rockets by declaring a blockade, the purpose of which was to assure that no rockets, or other material that could be used for making war against Israeli civilians, was permitted into Gaza. Israel allowed humanitarian aid through its checkpoints. There was never a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, merely a shortage of certain goods that would end if the rocket attacks ended. http://venitism.blogspot.com
Lieberman, a hard-liner within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative coalition, has voiced misgivings at the contacts. At the height of the crisis, he likened Turkey under Erdogan's Islamist-rooted AK Party to Iran, Israel's arch-foe.
Israeli officials say the U.N. report will come out on July 27. Citing earlier drafts, they predict it will find in favor of the Gaza blockade and its enforcement, which Israel says stem arms smuggling by the strip's ruling Islamist Hamas militants.
Turkey, which calls the blockade illegal and has often censured Israel's Palestinian policies, says it would not accept such findings by the panel appointed by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and headed by former New Zealand premier Geoffrey Palmer.
The West should seek to revitalize the strategic relationship with Turkey, warning the Turkish government that support for the Iranian nuclear program and continuing confrontation with Israel undermine the foundations of West–Turkish relations and jeopardize military and intelligence cooperation.
The West should mediate the repair of ties between Ankara and Jerusalem while encouraging Turkey to play a significant role in conflict resolution in its neighborhood, especially the Caucasus. The West should also expand energy cooperation with Turkey, especially on the Nabucco, Turkmenistan–Azerbaijani, and Iraq–Turkey gas pipelines. http://venitism.blogspot.com
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