Word: turkeys
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...doing in an international context," says Candar. "The West is relieved to have someone taking on Israel. They've outsourced the job to Erdogan. That's why, when he does the cost analysis of saying these things about Israel, he has the added confidence of knowing that Turkey won't face recrimination from its Western partners either...
...month goes by without a new chapter in the increasingly bitter diplomatic sparring between traditional allies Turkey and Israel. Relations took a downturn a year ago, when Turkey's government forcefully criticized Israel's military assault on Gaza, and have since lurched from bad to worse. "One road accident, two accidents, three ... all of a sudden it starts to look as if they're not accidents - the road itself is the problem," says Turkish foreign-affairs commentator Cengiz Candar. "The Turkey-Israel love affair is over...
...This week's drama was provoked by a bizarre p.r. stunt on the part of Israel's right-wing Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon. Ayalon called in Turkey's ambassador to Israel and staged a demeaning photo op calculated to humiliate the Turkish diplomat as a rebuke for negative portrayals of Israel on a Turkish TV drama. Only Ayalon's last-minute apology prevented the resulting furor from causing a diplomatic breakdown. (See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East...
...further rows seem inevitable. Turkey's newfound ambition to become a major regional power broker has seen an energetic forging of ties with Arab and Central Asian countries. Asserting a foreign policy increasingly independent of Washington, Turkey has not hesitated to criticize Israel's actions against the Palestinians, defend Iran's nuclear program and expand economic ties at a moment when the U.S. seeks to isolate Tehran, and repair relations with Syria. Israel's leaders warn publicly that they believe Turkey is moving into the region's Islamist orbit, and hard-liners within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government...
...past six months, Turkey has scrapped visa requirements for Lebanon, Jordan and Syria and signed a raft of agreements with each country designed to improve trade and cultural exchange. Since publicly chastising Israeli President Shimon Peres over Gaza at a conference in Switzerland last January, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become a hero on Arab streets, and the latest diplomatic spat with Israel won't do his popularity any harm. Beirut daily Al Akhbar's headline on the Ayalon apology story praised "Sultan Erdogan" and exalted that "Israel understands only Turkish...