Israel Says It Will Reassess Relations With Turkey After War Crimes Accusations
Initial withdrawal of Israeli diplomats came amid warnings from the Israeli government for its citizens to leave the country
Israel said it was reevaluating its ties with Turkey after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the country of being a war criminal during a pro-Palestinian rally on Saturday with hundreds of thousands attending.
“Israel is committing war crimes,” Erdoğan told the crowd in Istanbul.
Ryan Bohl, a Middle East analyst for the risk intelligence company RANE, told The Media Line that Erdoğan’s comments were a response to the large protests.
“He’s playing politics at this moment, without necessarily interrupting those economic or defense ties that he really cherishes with Israel. It’s very easy to criticize Israel. It’s very easy to recall ambassadors and send them back and forth. Trade deals, energy interruptions, things like that, that’s more [difficult and] substantial,” Bohl said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen wrote on X, the short message platform formerly known as Twitter, that his country was recalling its diplomats in order to rethink relations between the two countries.
“Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey,” Cohen wrote.
However, Israel had stated over a week ago that it was removing its diplomats from Turkey after issuing security warnings for its citizens to leave the country.
Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz wrote on X that Erdoğan was a supporter of Hamas.
Saturday’s rally came after growing anger and antisemitism from some in the Turkish public against Israel’s military response to Hamas’ attack.
An account on the social media website of a Turkish organization that tracks antisemitism in Turkey posted a photo of a synagogue in the city of Izmir that had the words “Murderer Israel” spray-painted on it.
The account said the graffiti was found on Saturday morning.
Another post shows the entrance of a bookstore in Istanbul with a sign reading “JEWS NOT ALLOWED.”
Bohl believed that Israel would eventually move past the diplomatic dispute with Ankara, as long as Turkey did not take bold steps against Israel on the military or security front.
“I think Israel feels that they need to be aggressive diplomatically, to push back against that international narrative, to shape public sentiment,” he said.
Hundreds have protested outside Israel’s embassy in Ankara and consulate in Istanbul, where fireworks were thrown at the building.
Turkish officials said that police in Istanbul stopped people from getting into the consulate.
Ozgur Ünlühisarcıklı, the German Marshall Fund’s Ankara office director, told The Media Line that authorities had to draw a line, but the Turkish government would face anger if it did not allow protests to go ahead, which could jeopardize Ankara’s stance on supporting a resolution to the war.
If the Turkish public starts to believe that Turkey doesn’t care for the human rights of Palestinians, then actually there could be such a strong backlash in the Turkish public that the Turkish government [would] abandon its constructive approach. So there is a certain limit to what the Turkish government can prevent in Turkey.
“If the Turkish public starts to believe that Turkey doesn’t care for the human rights of Palestinians, then actually there could be such a strong backlash in the Turkish public that the Turkish government [would] abandon its constructive approach. So there is a certain limit to what the Turkish government can prevent in Turkey,” he said.
Bohl believed Israel would likely try to return to the relations it previously had as long as there was no major crisis between the two countries.
Bohl said that the sharing of intelligence would be especially affected by the removal of diplomats.
Turkey’s national intelligence agency, MIT, has in the past cooperated with Israel to prevent attacks against Israeli citizens by Iran.
In June, then-Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid thanked Turkey for helping stop an alleged plot by Iran to kill Israeli tourists.
Turkey and Israel had recently undergone a rapprochement with Irit Lillian taking her post as Israeli ambassador to Turkey last December after both countries had withdrawn their ambassadors in 2018.
Bohl said that Erdoğan would likely follow how Gulf Arab countries deal with Israel as they are important economic partners for Ankara.
“In this war, I think Turkey is more of a follower of the Gulf Arabs, rather than a trendsetter in regard to how the Muslim world stance works for the Palestinians,” Bohl said.
