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Turkey's Shift Toward Iran and Syria

[Jerusalem Post] Jonathan Spyer - Last weekend, a conference held under the title "Gaza, The Victory" took place in Istanbul, bringing 200 Sunni clerics and activists together with senior Damascus-based Hamas officials. The location of the conference is a further indication of the move of the Islamist AKP government in Turkey toward a more open alignment with anti-Western and anti-Israeli forces in the region. The atmosphere in Turkey during the Israeli operation in Gaza became deeply charged against Israelis and Jews - with a number of ugly incidents recorded across the country. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed off the stage in protest during a debate with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres in Davos, Switzerland. Erdogan attended the emergency summit in Doha on Jan. 16 that was convened by Syria and Qatar to offer support to Hamas, and he publicly questioned Israel's UN membership. In courting Hamas and hosting Islamist gatherings, the AKP government in Ankara is seeking to build Turkey's regional "strategic depth" - its preferred phrase - by building up relations with Syria and Iran. Since it is becoming increasingly unfeasible for countries to maintain close relations with both the U.S.-led and the Iranian-led camps, the prospect of Turkey moving toward the Iranian-led alliance can no longer be dismissed as fanciful. Turkish analysts have noted the rise of a "Muslim nationalist" orientation in the country. The writer is a senior researcher at the Global Research in International Affairs Center, IDC, Herzliya.
2009-02-20 06:00:00
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