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Turkey will not turn blind eye on Israeli actions against Palestinians: Beirut center for strategic studies

Politics Materials 26 November 2009 22:58 (UTC +04:00)
Turkey will resume normal relations with Israel as formerly, but this does not mean that Ankara should turn a blind eye to Israeli actions against Palestinians, said Muhammad Nureddin, a Lebanese expert on Turkish politics.
Turkey will not turn blind eye on Israeli actions against Palestinians: Beirut center for strategic studies

Azerbaijan, Baku, November 26 / Trend , U.Sadikhova /

Turkey will resume normal relations with Israel as formerly, but this does not mean that Ankara should turn a blind eye to Israeli actions against Palestinians, said Muhammad Nureddin, a Lebanese expert on Turkish politics.

"It is impossible for Turkey to allow even greater tensions in relations with Israel, which are now at the stage of crisis, Nureddin, head of the Beirut Center for Strategic Studies, told Trend by telephone. - Turkey will return relations with Israel to the former course, but that does not mean that it would close its eyes to Israeli steps against Palestinians. "

Israeli Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer's visit to Turkey was aimed at lessening tensions in Ankara's relations with the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli press reported.

Despite Israel's dissatisfaction with harsh criticism of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed to the Netanyahu government and the refusal from the joint military exercises, during his visit to Ankara and Istanbul, Ben-Eliezer expressed Israel's willingness to continue cooperation with Turkey - once a key strategic and military partner of Israel in the Middle East and mediator in Israeli-Syrian negotiations.

Meanwhile, Arab media reported that, "chilling" relations with Israel, Turkey seeks to dominate in the Middle East and intervene in the politics of Arab countries.

However, Noureddin did not agree with this view, believing that the possibility of Turkey to further expand its influence in the region came after Ankara withdrew from the union of the United States - Israel and began the process of establishing relations with Arab countries, Iran and Russia.

"When Turkey was following only an alliance with the United States and Israel, its regional role was limited and negative that affected its relations with neighboring countries. The process of establishing relations with Syria, Iran, Russia gave Ankara an opportunity to increase its role. However, Turkey has never sought to dominate in the region or dominate over any country," said Nureddin.

The opinion that Turkey is trying to have hegemony in the region and seeks to push the Arab countries is an attempt to break the trust and balance in the Turkish-Arab relations, said the Lebanese political analyst.

"If Turkey would rule over Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, it means that it wants to dominate over Iran and Russia," said Nureddin.

The reason for the beginning of discord in the relations between Turkey and Israel was Israeli military attacks on civilian population of Gaza to destroy Hamas members. The Palestinian issue remains the main topic of debate between Turkey and Israel.

Receiving Israeli Minister Ben-Eliezer, Turkish President Abdullah Gul called upon Israel to be more sincere in the peace process with the Palestinians, warning that the current situation could lead to undesirable consequences in the region, Anadolu news agency reported.

Nureddin believes that Ankara will work towards improving relations with Israel, given Turkey's official mediation in Syrian-Israeli talks and informal mediation between the Palestinians and Israel, but the Turkish government is not going to bear Israel's injustice against the Palestinians.
Turkey and Israel are military and political partners, who until recently cooperated closely in the military field.

In October, Turkey cancelled the Anatolian Eagle international exercise, which had to be attended by the Israeli Air Force. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan explained cancelling the maneuvers through "public opinion. "Our people did not want exercises with Israel, so the international part of Anatolian Eagle exercise was postponed," Erdogan said then.

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