Turkey-Israel Relations
“Our relations with Israel at the level of intelligence cooperation have not been broken. But it is facing hurdles because of the people at the helm in the Israeli authority. This means that the reasons for the deterioration of these relations are clearly Israel’s insistence on pursuing a policy of occupation, massacres, continued blockades and settlement projects, which ignore Palestinians and Muslims in general. Turkey’s position on this issue is clear.” “We cannot accept Israel’s approach towards the Palestinian territories. This is the point at which we disagree with Israel.” These are the statements Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan which defines the nature of relations between his country and Israel, which is far away from normalisation.
There are certain conditions for overcoming some of the obstacles in the current relationship between the two countries. They, as stated clearly, are: Israel must abide by Turkey’s understanding of the question of justice and respect for the Palestinians’ right to sovereignty over their land. Perhaps given Israel’s nature, this means that Turkey is asking for something impossible. This is because everyone knows that this country never changes its secret agendas on this issue.
It should be remembered that relations between Turkey and Israel were based on mutual recognition from the beginning, and are different from their relations with Arab countries. Whatever is the level of such relations, Palestinian issue will always be the red line for it.
(by Yasin Aktay in Al Jazeera)
Iran as Solution of All Gulf Crisis
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has said recently that the solution to regional tensions lies in Tehran. Is Iran really the key to the solution to the region’s crises? Tehran has tried to present itself to the West and to the major powers as the solution to many of the region’s crises, including Syria and Yemen. So did its regional policy make it a key to resolution of crises or a reason for their exacerbation?
Due to its behaviour, it was rejected in the region and faced isolation. Iran and other countries of the region had different positions about the issues of the region where conflicts erupted after 2011 on geopolitical, sectarian and ethnic levels. These conflicts attracted several regional and international players. Iran intervened in an internal power struggle and took the position of the Assad regime and Russia in Syria, but fought alongside U.S.-led forces in Iraq against ISIS. The international system has played a major role in Iran’s regional behaviour. Iran has found space to manoeuvre and continue to support its economic and military decisions by diversifying its alliances with other external powers such as Russia and China.
The Saudi foreign minister’s statement that Iran was a key to resolving crises, shows that both the sides share the same view that Tehran is key to resolving all crises of the region.
(by Huda Rauf in Independent Arabia)
Compiled and Translated by Faizul Haque