February 06 , 2009

Erdogan Condemns Israeli ‘Barbarity’ in Gaza at World Forum

 

The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, retorted strongly to the harsh invectives of Shimon Perez, President of Israel, against the Muslims of Gaza, to justify the massive air attacks followed by military invasion of the strip causing the death of 1300, many of them women and children, and damage of two billion dollars to their properties. The clash between the two leaders occurred during a debate on Gaza at the 39th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Davos, Switzerland, January 28-Feb. 1, 2008.

The incidence, being referred to as a ‘spat’ by a section of the Western media to underplay it, actually holds much significance for students of Middle East affairs, inasmuch as Turkey, a predominantly Muslim nation, has long been the Jewish state’s closest military and economic partner.  For Israel, therefore, the friendship of Turkey is an invaluable asset, since it is the only Muslim state that has extended to Israel recognition and intimate relations.

But many Turks have been incensed with Israel over its three-week air attacks and military operation in Gaza. To many unbiased observers, the Israeli contention that it was retaliating against rocket attacks of the militants in Gaza was untenable. The rockets, to begin with were crude, home made and only a few notches above firecrackers. The Israeli casualties caused by them over the entire period have been as low as 13 as against 1300 – that is 1 to 100- Gazans killed in the air attacks by Israeli’s F-16 planes.

That being the situation on the ground, Tayyip Erdogan, already pressured at home by members of his own  Justice and Development Party and the people at large to take bold steps for stopping the carnage, was angered over Peres’ rhetoric presenting Israel as a peace-loving country that had been forced to retaliate to Hamas’ rocket attacks on his territory. Retorting to Peres’ litany of charges against the militants of Gaza, he described Israeli’s campaign as “barbaric”, and charged, “When it comes to killing, you know killing very well. I know how you hit and  kill children on the beaches.” Referring to the inhuman blockade of the strip, he remarked: “The Palestinian territory is like an open-air prison, isolated from the world. I have always been a leader who said anti-Semitism is a crime against humanity. But so is anti-Islamism”

He had hardly spent a few minutes expounding his views on the Gaza carnage when the moderator told him to stop as he had run out of time.  Erdogan reacted to this by saying: “From now on, Davos is finished for me. I will not come back. You won’t let people talk. You gave him (Peres) 25 minutes, but you gave me 12 minutes. This not right.”  He then stormed out of the session and returned the same day to Istanbul, where he was given a hero’s welcome.

Erdogan’s statement was a clear deviation from the traditional Turkish policies of strict secularism, tilt towards the West and consequently towards Israel, and concerted efforts to seek membership of the European Union. Some Turkish leaders faulted him for the outburst and feared that it may affect adversely Turkey’s foreign policy objectives. To this apprehension, he replied, “No one should portray the killing of those children or women as a simple job accident” (collateral damage).  “Being silent in the face of oppression is oppression itself”.

To pacify his critics he said: “We are not categorically accusing Israel, Israelis or Jews. Our criticism is directed at phosphorus bombs, weapons of mass destruction. Our reaction is against the Israeli administration. Everybody should take sides and Turkey sides with peace” ( - a clear dig at Israel’s aggression).

Turkey has been in the cleft of a cultural and political conflict ever since 1928 when Ataturk declared it to be a secular state and Islam ceased to be the state religion. Most of the modern democratic societies are divided between conservatives and the liberals. But, the rift is more fundamental in the case of Turkey in that it is so embedded in the country’s history and geography that it clogs the operation of Hegelian dialectics and the development of a synthesis.

While geography is exercising a strong pull towards the country’s Asian neighbors, all of them Muslim states, its history, particularly of the Ottoman Empire (1299-1923) imparts a unique sense of pride to the people.  The Turkish empire ruled over vast areas in Asia, Africa and Europe for 624 years. At its apex, during the rule of Suleyman the Magnificent (1520-1566) its borders extended from the Crimea in the North to Yemen and Sudan in the South and from Iran and the Caspian Sea in the East to Vienna in the Northwest and Spain in the Southwest. The Mediterranean was a Turkish lake.

Kemal Ataturk, the father of modern Turkey, tried to effect a complete break with the Ottoman past and to bring Turkey within the cultural orbit of Europe. Eighty-five years have passed since the advent of Kemalist Turkey. It has since become a member of NATO, has been accepted into the European Customs Union but its request for membership of the European Union is thwarted by the Vatican and several European states, since the E.U. is viewed by them as a Christian entity, an exclusive club, with little room for a Muslim state.

Prime Minister Erdogan might have found it difficult to control the surge of revulsion over the justification presented by Israeli leader for the unrelenting attacks on a besieged people.  Even a good number of American Jews have condemned the massacres. Obviously, Israel is working for bringing under its total control and administration the entire area from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea  -unhampered by any territory under the control of Palestinians. They expect the inhabitants of the West Bank and of the Gaza strip to migrate to any of the neighboring Muslim states – Jordan is the preferred destination.

American plan to have a two-state solution has therefore made little progress. West Bank and Gaza  are under virtual siege. Jimmy Carter, in his book “Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid” has excoriated the segregation imposed on the Palestinians in West Bank.  He pleads for the renewal of the peace process.   Based on his talks with Hamas leaders, he holds the view that Hamas will modify its stance on Israel. But, he is quite emphatic on the removal of the barriers structured by Israel to segregate the Palestinians.

Erdogan has called Gaza “an open air prison”.

A survey by the prestigious PEW Center as far back as June 2006 had found that Muslim opinion about the West had worsened dramatically with the Israel-Palestinian issue having become the principal fault line in the world. Unfortunately, the US has utilized its veto power in the Security Council mostly against UN resolutions on the Middle East conflict that were critical of Israeli position.

Instances are wanting of the US utilizing its clout with Israel for goading it towards the path of peace. The incongruity becomes more pronounced when one takes into account the fact that the US is offering to Israel $3 million a day by way of assistance. With the US help, Israel has become the fourth biggest military power of the world. President Barack Obama appears fully cognizant of the situation, as indicated in his interview with Al-Arabia TV. But, he has assumed power at a time when the fast declining US economy has to be his top priority. One is reminded here of a saying of Churchill: “The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that when nations are strong they are not always just, and when they wish to be just they are no longer strong.”

 arifhussaini@hotmail.com