Word: turkeys
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...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...
...Turkish government's having increased its control over the country's powerful generals in a 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...
...popular level, almost as worrying as the political brinksmanship being played out between Turkey and Israel is the speed with which official hostility has trickled down to the streets. Visitors from Israel to Turkey - formerly the second most popular travel destination for Israelis after the U.S. - have fallen 47% since January, compared with the same period last year. The Turkish government has also been less than careful in fanning the flames of anti-Semitism. Erdogan recently exhorted university students to take a page from "the Jews," whom, he said, "invent things and then sit back and make money off those...
...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...
Pragmatism is still likely to keep the crisis in check. Israel is involved in two major defense projects in Turkey that are worth more than $1 billion, and the prickly issue of Iran's nuclear program looms larger than anything else in the region. But the latest dispute signals that it is no longer business as usual between the two erstwhile friends...