Emphasis on Expanding Economic Ties as Israel, Turkey Renew Relations
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the first visit by a senior Turkish official to Israel in 15 years.
The foreign ministers of Israel and Turkey told reporters on Wednesday that their countries are planning to expand economic ties as they work to repair the diplomatic relations that have been strained for more than a decade.
“The goal is to form and expand economic and civil cooperation between our countries,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement alongside his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Jerusalem, “and to leverage our two countries’ comparative advantages regionally and globally, even during the pandemic, and even in times of political tension.”
The two ministers said that officials from both countries would resume working on a new civil aviation agreement.
The Turkish foreign minister also said that renewed relations could have an effect on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“We believe that normalization of our ties will also have a positive impact on the peaceful resolution of the conflict. Turkey is ready to take responsibility to continue the efforts toward dialogue,” Cavusoglu said.
This event symbolizes the beginning of a new period in bilateral relations. Today the most important issue is upgrading the relations to the ambassadorial level. This is very significant since it will constitute a starting point for launching more ambitious projects.
The frosty diplomatic ties between Israel and Turkey are experiencing a major thaw. Relations between the two countries have ebbed and flowed over the last decade, but a shift began taking place last year when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called newly named Israeli President Isaac Herzog for a phone conversation last year, part of a nascent reconciliation process to repair ties.
Herzog visited Turkey in March, where he was given an elaborate reception.
Warming relations have come after more than a decade of rocky relations over what Turkey says is Israeli violence toward Palestinians and their supporters. In 2010, both countries withdrew their ambassadors after 10 Turkish civilians were killed in an Israeli raid on the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara ship, part of a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid that tried to breach the naval blockade of Gaza.
Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, an expert on Turkey at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and at Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, told The Media Line that Cavusoglu’s visit is significant and both sides are ready to turn the page on the last rocky 15 years.
“After 15 years, Israel hosts the Turkish foreign minister. This event symbolizes the beginning of a new period in bilateral relations. Today the most important issue is upgrading the relations to the ambassadorial level. This is very significant since it will constitute a starting point for launching more ambitious projects,” he said.
Yanarocak explains that, for the relationship to move forward, Turkey has to take a tough stance with Hamas.
Turkey is home to several senior Hamas officials. Erdogan has been a vociferous supporter of the Palestinians and has maintained a close relationship with Hamas. Israel has accused Hamas of using Turkey as a base to plan attacks against Israel.
Cavusoglu told his Palestinian counterpart on Tuesday in a visit to Ramallah in the West Bank that normalization with Israel will not come at the expense of the Palestinian cause.
“Turkey is eager to deepen its cooperation with Israel on energy, trade and tourism. This is doable. However, in order to proceed and build a healthy infrastructure for cooperation, Hamas should be removed from Turkey. This is the most important Israeli demand to take the relations to a further step,” Yanarocak said.
Alon Liel, former ambassador (ret.) of Israel to South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, told The Media Line that he does not believe a great deal of enthusiasm or much progress will follow the fanfare of the official meetings between the two sides.
“First, there is no rapprochement. We had a presidential visit in Ankara, and we had this visit now,” Leil said, adding that listening to both diplomats during their news conference made him realize that “there’s no progress.”
“It is still stuck on economics, tourism and there is no move to the political strategic level. Even the issue of exporting gas from Israel to Turkey was not mentioned in the words of the Turkish foreign minister,” he said.
Cavusoglu’s visit is expected to usher in a new era between the two countries that view themselves as major powers in the eastern Mediterranean. New ambassadors are expected to return to their embassies, and more talks are expected to take place on energy cooperation.
In order to proceed and build a healthy infrastructure for cooperation, Hamas should be removed from Turkey.
But despite all of the fanfare accompanying Cavusoglu’s trip and talk of a new page in the decades-long relationship, some in Israel are skeptical of Turkey’s intentions.
“This is clearly because in the last 14 years we had one long crisis between Israel and Turkey that included verbal attacks from President Erdogan himself on Israel and its policies and the Israeli public developed strong antagonism against Erdogan personally, and against Turkey,” according to Liel.
He says there is one global power that can speed up the reconciliation process.
“Only the United States can do it,” Liel said, adding that an expected official visit by President Joe Biden to Israel late next month Washington can bridge the gap between Israel and Turkey.
“Turkey because of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is becoming more important now to the US in the NATO context and on the issue of the import of gas from Russia through Turkey. If Biden says its critical for the United States and regional and global interests that you [Israel] improve your relations with Turkey on specific issues, Israel usually follows the US, especially if it comes with a certain price,” he said.
Some Palestinians are hopeful that restoring relations between Israel and Turkey could be positive for the Palestinians, but Liel does not believe this will occur.
Cavusoglu referred to two states and he “said that Turkey would like to help, but he knows that Israel will not let Turkey get close,” he said.
