A popular Turkish news source, Hürriyet, reports that Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has stated that the Israeli raid of the Gaza flotilla ships is unrelated to Turkey-Israel ties.
Qureshi said the Israeli raid on the flotilla should not be viewed in the context of the relationship between the two countries, reported Hürriyet.
Qureshi also supported Turkey’s request for an independent investigation into the deaths of nine people onboard the flotilla.
However, according to an opinion piece in Hürriyet, it is impossible to see the episodes unfolding around the flotilla as unrelated to Turkish-Israeli relations.
The two nations have had diplomatic ties since March 28, 1949, but the relationship is now threatened since Israeli commandos boarded the convoy of ships bringing supplies to Gaza.
“It would have been enough for Turkey to turn against Israel had the Israelis bloodied the nose of even one Turk” says the piece.
The loss of good relations between the two states will prove to have negative repercussions for Israel, which relied on its Turkish allies for leverage in the Middle East, argues the article.
For Turkey, the loss of its close relations with Israel may mean losing its unique position in the world as one of the only majority Muslim nations to have a secular democracy, be a member of NATO, and be friends with Israel.
“If Turkey is to continue to be unique, this view has to drive Turkish policy,” says the author.
For now, however, the recent events with the Gaza flotilla seem to have left a deep, and possibly lasting, scar on Israeli-Turkish relations.
Qureshi said the Israeli raid on the flotilla should not be viewed in the context of the relationship between the two countries, reported Hürriyet.
Qureshi also supported Turkey’s request for an independent investigation into the deaths of nine people onboard the flotilla.
However, according to an opinion piece in Hürriyet, it is impossible to see the episodes unfolding around the flotilla as unrelated to Turkish-Israeli relations.
The two nations have had diplomatic ties since March 28, 1949, but the relationship is now threatened since Israeli commandos boarded the convoy of ships bringing supplies to Gaza.
“It would have been enough for Turkey to turn against Israel had the Israelis bloodied the nose of even one Turk” says the piece.
The loss of good relations between the two states will prove to have negative repercussions for Israel, which relied on its Turkish allies for leverage in the Middle East, argues the article.
For Turkey, the loss of its close relations with Israel may mean losing its unique position in the world as one of the only majority Muslim nations to have a secular democracy, be a member of NATO, and be friends with Israel.
“If Turkey is to continue to be unique, this view has to drive Turkish policy,” says the author.
For now, however, the recent events with the Gaza flotilla seem to have left a deep, and possibly lasting, scar on Israeli-Turkish relations.
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