By Boston Herald Editorial Staff
The turmoil that continues to roil the Middle East could eventually determine whether Turkey falls to extreme Islamist rule.
The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been described as moderate Islamist, but friends of Israel are not so sure. From the former era of cooperation, Turkey-Israel relations have sunk to ice-cold in the wake of Turkey’s support for the misbegotten Gaza aid flotilla of 2010 and Turkey’s current cooperation with the terrorist organization Hamas in building a hospital in Gaza. Turkey has admitted providing some funds to Hamas.
Yet Erdogan reportedly has good telephone relations with President Barack Obama, and Turkey, a member of NATO, has lent important support to the anti-government rebels in Syria.
Syria, listed by the U.S. State Department as a supporter of terrorism since 1979, has housed the headquarters of Hamas for years.
But Hamas leader Khaled Meshaai now has decided to move himself out of Damascus.
Hamas has even stopped denying that it’s looking for a new headquarters. Meshaai recently visited King Abdullah of Jordan; both said a move to Jordan was not contemplated.
The question came up in Turkey. Turkish President Abdulla Gul issued one of those “neither confirm nor deny” statements, which means the question is open.
If Hamas gave up terrorism, the headquarters location wouldn’t matter. Otherwise, a move to Turkey — which over the years has lost nearly 40,000 citizens to terrorism — would, according to Yusuf Tayyip, a writer for the Hurriyet Daily News, put Turkey “in far deeper difficulties than we could ever imagine.”
Exactly right.
It would be hard for Turkey to stay in NATO.
At a minimum, it would mean the end of all anti-terrorism assistance from the United States and other countries. And it would confirm Turkey’s course toward extremism.
via A decision for Turkey – BostonHerald.com.