In Istanbul, Dina Ezzat asks whether the blunt words of the Turkish government after the Mavi Marmara tragedy will be followed by appropriate deeds In Spanish, French and English, the keen Turkish merchant at the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul tries to invite potential shoppers. The reaction of the merchant to a declaration of Egyptian nationality is angry, to say the least. "What are you doing here? Why don't you open Rafah? Why help Israel against Gaza?" he said. Ramzy, as he later introduced himself, is "sad, sad; very sad" over the Mavi Marmara tragedy that occurred in the early hours of 31 May when Israeli soldiers attacked the aid ship, killing nine and wounding scores of Turkish and foreign humanitarian activists in international waters as they tried to reach Gaza to deliver aid and to signal solidarity with the impoverished Strip. What is equally saddening to Ramzy is that Egypt is not making things much easier for the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza. And Ramzy is not the exception in Istanbul when it comes to negative interpretations of the stance of the Egyptian government on the closure of the Rafah crossing that links besieged Gaza to the outside world. In an open-air café in central Taksim Square, Nouran shows no sign of Islamic fundamentalism. On the contrary, she is unmistakably liberal and Western in conduct. However, the 30-year-old Turkish journalist is unable to sympathise with the Egyptian government that she, like other shouting demonstrators in the city following Friday prayers last week, lambastes in clear language. That the Egyptian government opened the Rafah crossing following the Mavi Marmara tragedy does not impress angry Turks who mourn those killed by Israel, once a military partner of Turkey. Neither do they accept the official line defended by irritated Cairo diplomats and members of the ruling National Democratic Party that the unrestricted operation of Rafah crossing became impossible due to the unilateral takeover of Gaza by Hamas. The political and legal consequences of potential arms smuggling, in or out of Gaza, and legal arguments of the undeniable responsibility of Israel, as an occupying power, towards Gaza are all met with derision. This is not necessarily the sentiment in all quarters of Turkish diplomacy, however, where some unease at the support the Islamic- oriented government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered to Turkish humanitarians attacked by Israel is discernible. Indeed, while Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was telling a press conference Monday that his country's relations with Israel will not return to normality absent Israeli compliance with a UN Security Council presidential decree calling for an independent probe, Turkish Minister of Defence Vecdi Gonul was telling reporters that his ministry has not received a request from the Foreign Ministry to suspend military cooperation between Ankara and Tel Aviv. "This is very unlikely. I don't think we will go that far," commented a Turkish diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity. According to this and other Turkish diplomats who shared their analysis of the Mavi Marmara tragedy, Ankara is not planning to sever its relations with Israel or to pursue sanctions against it, though top Turkish officials openly and repeatedly qualify its attack on the Mavi Marmara as "state terror". Ankara, they say, is awaiting an apology that it knows it will come one way or another. Ankara, they add, wants to see an international investigation that would incriminate the Israeli soldiers involved for violating international law. "We lament the tragedy and we mourn the loss of Turkish citizens, but we want to see what could come out of this tragedy to serve the interest of the people in Gaza best. Those people died for the sake of giving Gaza an exit, not for the sake of going to war with Israel," commented one senior Turkish diplomat. It is an open secret in official quarters in Turkey that the approach of the Turkish government towards the Palestinian file has been subject to much criticism from the affluent Turkish brass. It is equally an open secret that the recommendations of top military figures in Ankara to avoid any harsher diplomatic confrontation with Israel is being accommodated by the Erdogan government. As such, the focus of the Turkish government now is to avoid any portrayal of the situation as a bilateral crisis between Turkey and Israel, and to insist that Israel's reaction to the crisis should be to ease the siege it has imposed on Gaza since the Hamas takeover in July 2007. "This is not a bilateral problem. The boats had citizens of [over 30] nations," insisted Unal Cevikoz, Turkish deputy undersecretary for political affairs. According to repeated statements of the foreign minister and prime minister of Turkey, the matter is being addressed in the context of the UN, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, and in cooperation with the Arab League. As such, on Saturday, Cevikoz announced that Turkey -- the new chair of CICA (the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia) -- invited Israel to take part in the summit meeting that convened in Istanbul of the Eurasian gathering that brings together some 20 states, including Egypt, Iran and others from South Asia. "We believe that Israel has the right to contribute to [this forum and] cooperative security and regional economic and political cooperation," said Cevikoz. Cevikoz stated that "nobody", including his own country, "has asked for Israel to be expelled" from this group. Indeed, Turkish diplomats insist they want to work with -- not against -- Israel, especially on finding a compromise, along with Egypt, the European Union and the UN, on getting Israel to reduce the harsh measures of the blockade it imposes on Gaza. According to Prime Minister Erdogan, "It is time to lift the blockade on Gaza... Gaza is an open-air jail and we don't want open-air jails." Israel is not exactly reciprocating. In the analysis of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, present on the sidelines of the CICA meetings, as a special guest of Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, the bloody attack on the Mavi Marmara is indication of Israeli resistance to any role that Turkey is trying to take on regional conflicts. "Turkey had to pay the price for its role as an impartial broker [of possible peace talks between Syria and Israel] by Israel who is by now used to nothing but [pro-Israel] biased brokers," the Syrian president said in a joint press conference with Erdogan on Monday. "Turkey had to pay a price for the role it is playing in normalising relations among the countries of the region," he added. The analysis of the Syrian head of state is being perceived as "pretty logical" by Turkish diplomats, especially as an expression of Israeli irritation over Turkey's active role in brokering -- along with Brazil -- a uranium exchange deal with Iran to end the standoff between Tehran and the West. Also mentioned is Turkish intervention, alongside Pakistan, in Afghanistan. On the sidelines of CICA on Tuesday, Erdogan met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to follow up on the deal brokered last month. He was also mediating with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, to try to end Russia's ire with regard to the nuclear deal that Turkey and Brazil brokered with Iran. Meanwhile, Davutoglu was working with counterparts from Afghanistan and Pakistan to prepare for a conference on peace and development in Afghanistan later in the year. This is only a fraction of what is promised by the Turkish Concept Paper for the next two years, the duration of its rotated chairmanship of CICA. According to Turkish diplomats, the region's main players are welcoming the enhanced diplomatic role that Ankara is forging for itself. In Cairo, for example, an Egyptian diplomat said that Egypt is very willing to cooperate with Turkey "through official channels and along with other international partners" to help ease the situation in Gaza. "The Arab-Israeli conflict that continues to persist is posing a threat to both regional and global peace and security," said Abdel-Rahman Salah, Egypt's ambassador to Ankara and head of the Egyptian delegation to the CICA meetings this week in Istanbul. He added, "It is beyond doubt that Israeli military occupation stands out as a major obstacle to peace in the region." For his part, Huseyin Auni Botasali, Turkish ambassador to Egypt, insisted that Ankara shares the Egyptian concern and is keen to cooperate with Cairo to work for the establishment of Middle East peace and to address other causes of regional and international instability.
