Turkey Welcomes U.S. Tack on Israel

By MARC CHAMPION

ANKARA—Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul on Friday hailed Barack Obama’s reference to creating a Palestinian state based on Israel’s pre-1967 borders as “a very important step,” and said he had pressed Hamas to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal a day after the U.S. president delivered a major speech on the Middle East, Mr. Gul also welcomed Mr. Obama’s pledge of debt relief and aid for Egypt and Tunisia as they struggle in the wake of popular revolutions. But he said a much larger scale “Marshall Plan” for the Middle East was needed.

Such a fund should be run by the World Bank and draw on contributions from countries in the region, as well as from traditional donors in the West, Mr. Gul said. Initially open to Tunisia and Egypt only, the fund should then open to other countries in the Middle East as they clearly opt for democracy, he said.

Turkey and the U.S. have clashed repeatedly over Israel in recent years as Ankara took an increasingly aggressive stance over the Palestinian issue, demanding that Israel end its blockade of the Gaza strip and accusing it of genocide. But Mr. Obama’s speech is being interpreted by officials here as a significant if nuanced change from Washington.

“The fact that there was a reference to the borders of 1967 was a very important step in itself,” Mr. Gul said, speaking in his office at the presidential palace in Ankara. He said Israel was right to put its security first—but that to do that effectively, it needed to understand the meaning of the democratic uprisings in the Arab world, namely that new elected governments would no longer be allowed by their voters to tolerate “humiliating” Israeli policies.

“Israel shouldn’t focus on tactical issues. They have to look at the strategic side,” Mr. Gul said. “They have to get rid of this fear.”

Israeli officials have said they are watching developments in the Arab world with concern, as formerly friendly leaders such as Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak have been toppled. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned this week that returning Israel to its 1967 borders would leave the country “indefensible.”

Turkey embraced Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel and the U.S., after its 2006 election in Gaza, and broke with formerly close ally Israel over its military operation in the Gaza strip in 2008.

But Mr. Gul said President Obama “has a point” when he said in his speech that Israel couldn’t be expected to negotiate with a body that doesn’t recognize Israel’s right to exist.

Asked if he was willing to press Hamas on that issue, Mr. Gul said, “I already advised them.” He recalled in particular a 2006 meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Ankara, when he said he told Mr. Meshal, “you have to be rational” about recognizing Israel’s right to exist.

Mr. Gul said he believed Hamas had already internalized recognizing Israel in its pre-1967 borders, but wants that to happen simultaneously with Israel’s recognition of a Palestinian state. Hamas’s charter calls for replacing Israel with a Palestinian state in its entirety, and while Hamas leaders have spoken of a two-state solution in the past, it has been as a temporary measure.

Ankara’s increasingly active foreign policy in the Middle East has put it in direct conflict with Washington over the past two years over a number of policy areas, including Israel and Iran. There was also tension between the two capitals as the Arab Spring unfolded, with Turkey moving earlier to call for the removal of Mr. Mubarak but resisting early Western calls and action to topple Libya’s Col. Moammar Ghadafi.

Washington and Ankara are likely to clash again over Israel in September, when the Palestinian Authority will ask the United Nations to recognize an independent Palestinian state—a move Turkey would support and the U.S. opposes.

But Turkey has since called for Col. Ghadafi to resign and is taking part in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s mission there. Turkey also has found itself in a similar quandary to the U.S. on what to do about Syria. While both countries have called on President Bashar al-Assad to end violence against protesters and introduce meaningful reforms, neither has yet said it is time for him to step aside.

“Lately there has been perhaps the highest level of consultation between our two countries that we have had,” Mr. Gul said, speaking of the U.S. and Turkey.

Mr. Gul has fewer powers than Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan but is heavily engaged in foreign policy. He is also a former Turkish foreign minister.

Syria was a key success story in Turkey’s “zero problems with neighbors” foreign policy but has now become exhibit No. 1 in demonstrating that policy’s limitations, as Mr. Assad has refused to heed Turkish calls to drop the use of force, analysts say. In both Syria and Libya, the autocratic leaders Turkey had built its “no problems” policy around turned on demonstrators, undermining Turkey’s reputation as the region’s model democracy as it resisted abandoning them.

“Syria is different [from Libya],” Mr. Gul said. “There is still a chance for dialog.”

Asked how long Mr. Assad could continue shooting protesters without Turkey turning against him, Mr. Gul said “there is no place for even one more person to die.” The difference between Egypt and Syria, he said, was that in Egypt the army refused to shoot at the people, making the situation there much simpler and less dangerous.

Write to Marc Champion at [email protected]