Word: erdogan
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Another incident occurred at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City in September, when Erdogan was the only world leader to allude to Gaza in his speech. He also told reporters that "there should be accountability for anyone guilty of war crimes in Gaza." Days earlier, Davutoglu had canceled a trip to Israel after being refused permission to visit the Gaza Strip. "Not being allowed to visit Gaza was the last straw," says Sahin Alpay, a political science professor at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul. "That, combined with the Gaza attacks last year and the [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu...
...countries have sparred before, but Turkish criticism of Israel has grown more forceful since Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002. For decades Turkey was obsessed with Europe (despite a lukewarm reception) and all too keen to comply with the official NATO line, but in recent years it has started to look east, cultivating a role as a regional superpower. From Syria to Iran, the government has aggressively pursued closer ties with its neighbors. Amid the latest spat with Israel, Turkey signed a historic peace accord with its age-old foe Armenia...
...bitter - and ongoing - seven-year power struggle. "Until very recently, it was the upper echelons of the Turkish military who determined the scope and pace of the strategic relationship between Israel and Turkey," Ayturk says. "What we are witnessing is the chief of staff allowing, willy-nilly, Erdogan to take the initiative. They are acquiescing in a 'political' decision." (See TIME's video "Egyptians on the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty...
...friction is the latest in a relationship that has been worsening since last December, when Turkey - predominantly Muslim but officially secular - condemned Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip that left 1,500 Palestinians dead. In January, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a debate with Israeli President Shimon Peres at a conference in Davos, Switzerland. Wagging his finger at Peres, an emotional Erdogan accused him of "murdering children on beaches" - an outburst that made Erdogan a hero on streets across the Arab world. "If bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel touched bottom after that incident...
...Turkey itself has to take some blame for the impasse. Since the ruling Justice and Development Party came to power in 2003, it has been jostling with the army, raising fears of a military coup. Speaking in Brussels in January, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted the crisis had delayed E.U. accession talks. The report by the Independent Commission on Turkey says the country still needs to shed its "authoritarian legacies." (Read "Behind the Turkish Prime Minister's Outburst at Davos...