The current diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel spells the end of any dreams that either may once have entertained of forming a strategic alliance, writes Gareth Jenkins Already fragile relations between Turkey and Israel plummeted to a new low last week when the repercussions from a Turkish ultranationalist soap opera triggered a full-blown diplomatic crisis and the Turkish government reacted furiously to what it regarded as the deliberate public humiliation of the Turkish ambassador to Israel, threatening to withdraw the ambassador to Ankara unless Israel issued an unequivocal apology for its actions. On Sunday, an episode of a Turkish soap opera called "Valley of the Wolves" portrayed members of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad as kidnapping Turkish babies in order to convert them to Judaism. The programme also showed Mossad agents attacking the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv and taking the ambassador and his family hostage. On Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a scathing attack on Israel after it launched air strikes against Palestinians in Gaza. "Why is it doing this? Because it claims 'I possess the power in this region,'" declared Erdogan. "It possesses disproportionate power and it is using it. It does not abide by UN resolutions. It says 'I will do whatever I please.'" Israel responded by issuing an equally hard statement: "The state of Israel reserves the full right to protect its citizens from missile attacks and from the terror of Hamas and Hizbullah. Turkey is the last country that can preach morality to Israel and the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]." On Monday, Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, the Turkish ambassador to Israel, was summoned to the Israeli Foreign Ministry to receive a formal protest about the soap opera and Erdogan's statement. Anger turned to fury when Israeli television showed Celikkol perched on a low sofa in front of Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who was sitting on a much higher chair. Taking advantage of the fact that Celikkol does not speak Hebrew, Ayalon told the Israeli cameramen: "The important thing is that people see that he's sitting low down and we're up high." In a country always accurately sensitive about its image, such a public humiliation of its ambassador triggered widespread outrage inside Turkey. In a series of statements, Turkish officials fiercely condemned Ayalon's actions and threatened to withdraw the country's ambassador unless the Israeli government issued a prompt and unequivocal apology. None has been forthcoming. Although the current crisis represents a new low point in Turkish-Israeli relations, it is only the latest in a series of clashes and confrontations over the last 12 months. In January 2009, Erdogan famously stormed out of the World Economic Forum summit meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in protest against Israel's military onslaught against Gaza, bluntly telling Israeli President Shimon Peres that he knew "very well how to kill". In August, the Turkish government abruptly cancelled Israeli participation in long-planned trilateral military exercises involving Turkey, Israel and NATO (led by the US). Turkish officials later explained that they did not believe it would be appropriate to allow warplanes which may have been used to bomb Palestinian civilians to participate in war games in Turkish airspace. The deterioration in Turkish-Israeli relations is in marked contrast to the situation in the late 1990s, when many analysts were predicting that the signing of a series of military training and defence industry agreements between the two countries heralded the beginning of a strategic alliance in the region. Relations began to cool after the moderate Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) first came to power in November 2002. Nevertheless, during 2007 and 2008 the AKP was still on sufficiently good terms with the Israelis that it was able to begin to broker to indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria. However, the negotiations collapsed in December 2008 after Israel launched a military incursion into Gaza, just days after Israeli officials had assured Erdogan that Israel had no such plans. As a result, the widespread horror inside Turkey at television pictures of Palestinian women and children being killed by the IDF was compounded by a sense of betrayal. Over the weeks that followed, Turkey was swept by a wave of anti-Israeli protests. Although the public anger eventually began to subside, it never completely disappeared. While Erdogan's angry outburst at Davos marked a shift inside Israel of perceptions of Turks' attitude towards them. "Before Davos, we used to think that, on the whole, Turks liked us," said one Israeli businesswoman. "I don't believe that anybody thinks that now." Privately, some Israeli officials have condemned Ayalon's calculated humiliation of Celikkol, describing it as demeaning and undiplomatic. But for many Turks it is now regarded as indicative on the attitude to their country of Israel as a whole. It may eventually be possible for Turkey and Israel to re- establish a cordial, working relationship. But there is no doubt that, for many in both countries, the current crisis is irrefutable proof that dreams that any of them may have once entertained of Turkey and Israel forming a strategic partnership are now well and truly dead.
