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Deterioration of Turkish-Israeli relations reflected on Iraq

Commentary Materials 13 September 2011 13:21 (UTC +04:00)
Despite the overthrow of Mubarak's regime in Egypt, a close ally to Israel, the military announced the continuation of the current course in its foreign policy. Recent events have given reasons not to trust such statements.
Deterioration of Turkish-Israeli relations reflected on Iraq

Trend Middle East Desk Head Rufiz Hafizoglu

Despite the overthrow of Mubarak's regime in Egypt, a close ally to Israel, the military announced the continuation of the current course in its foreign policy. Recent events have given reasons not to trust such statements.

In fact, the Egyptian Revolution, "decorated" by various slogans, was not completely reflected in political circles given that serious staff changes were expected in the country after the revolution did not occur.

"Revolutionaries" made Friday prayer under the slogan "Correct the past" to correct the mistake.

Afterwards, inspired by the almost complete rupture of diplomatic relations between Tel Aviv and Ankara, the revolutionaries attacked the Israeli embassy, seizing it by evening.
Israeli-Egyptian relations were expected to be fully destroyed after the incident. In his statement, however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that though the attack on the embassy is a blow to the peaceful relations between the two countries, Israel will continue living with Egypt peacefully.

In fact, the Israeli government is well aware that as a result of the break in relations with Egypt, it may lose an important ally and control over Hamas, which is a threat to Tel Aviv.
On the other hand, the deterioration in relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv can strengthen ties in rapprochement between Cairo and Ankara. Such ties will mean the beginning of the end for Israel, already driven into a corner by the processes occurring in the region.

All this proves once again that breaking ties with a strategic ally amid the relations developing between Egypt and Turkey and the deterioration of Turkish-Israeli relations contradict Israeli interests.

One cannot believe that the Egyptian-Israeli relations will remain normal in the future, because real power lies in Egypt. The "Muslim Brotherhood" and its political branch - the Party of Freedom and Justice - seeks to cease relations with Tel Aviv.

Parliamentary elections in Egypt, scheduled for November, will be unlikely to take place and the military will remain in power. Israel is not interested in holding these elections, because if they take place, Israel's main enemy, the Muslim Brotherhood will be sure to win.

Relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv in various fields will be unlikely to return to their previous level, especially in regard to the military where the two countries were formerly allies.

Many political analysts think that the Turkish-Israeli relations fell to their current level, not only because of the attack on "Freedom Flotilla" but also due to information on the cooperation between Israel and the terrorist organization PKK in northern Iraq, obtained by Turkish intelligence.

The PKK issue was the next important point for both sides after diplomatic relations deteriorated.

The Israeli press reported that the Israeli government may use the Kurdish issue as a means of exerting pressure on Turkey after the diplomatic relations were broken with Ankara.

Naturally, the Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman denied this news and said that the government has no plans; this issue was not discussed.

The visit of the Advisor to the Turkish Foreign Ministry Firuddin Synyrlyoglu to Iraq also played an important role in the current events. His visit was clearly connected with discussions of the PKK issue.

In fact, Ankara is well aware that the Kurdish factor in northern Iraq is important to Turkey.

Iraqi officials declared the inadmissibility of creating the state of Kurdistan in the north of the country. The state already exists de-facto with all state attributes, with the exception of the monetary unit.

The deterioration of Turkish-Israeli relations will likely be reflected in one form or another in Iraq.

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