Category: Syria

Turkey’s Trial by Fire in the Middle East

By Özdem Sanberk, Director of USAK

Turkey has taken a position regarding the events underway in Syria that fits in with the existing general principles and practices of its foreign policy. The good relations with the Assad regime it promoted in years gone by do not entitle it to act contrary to the values underlying Turkish foreign policy in the process now under way.

Being an international role model implies, in one sense, that other countries make efforts to adopt your ways in accordance with the example you have set. Even if there are some among Turkey’s neighbours who are engaged in exactly that, Ankara itself is making no such claim pointing it out. Turkey is a country whose society and goverment have sought peace in their own region and the rest of the world for decades, and a country whose goal is steady development and prosperity.

Naturally, Turkey would also like to see the same developments toward peace and stability in Syria, its closest neighbour. Turkey also has a democratic multiparty parliamentary tradition which has operated for sixty years, and ultimately traces its roots back even further. Its experience is unique among countries in the world where majorities of people subscribe to the traditions of Islam.

We are just at the start of an arduous journey

Turkey is conscious of the fact that multiparty democracy will not settle down overnight among its neighbors to the south. Regardless, the fire which has broken out in Syria needs to be brought under control to minimize the damage, and the tragedy now being played out needs to be brought to a conclusion as quickly as possible. Syria is the country with which Turkey shares its longest land border and whose people are important to it. It is natural for Turkey to strategize how it can be of assistance in resolving Syria’s problems beginning with the humanitarian and security aspects.

It is not only Syria which is in flux: a massive movement for change is underway all across North Africa, or more precisely, across the entire Arab world. This transformation may last for decades, and it may well be that we have not yet even traversed the very first stage of it. Let us not forget that changes in Central and Eastern Europe after the breakup of the Soviet Union took ten years to complete, despite the political and economic opportunities the European Union made available. Deficiencies in the process are still visible as well. In the Arab world, there is no equivalent source of oxygen for the transformation process. In these difficult times, the Arabs have nothing like the Marshall Plan or an international system like the Council of Europe which might provide guidance on democratic matters. The peoples who live in this region are now only at the beginning of a long and winding road which will continue ahead of them for many years. The processes of democratic and economic development will play out in the Arab lands in a lengthy and arduous fashion. It is certainly an error to come up with hasty conclusions or quick judgments.

The role of the European Union and the United States

As the processes work themselves out, the pains suffered by the Arab peoples will not abate. Neighboring countries like Turkey will also have to expect their share of this instability and lack of security. That is why it is not surprising in the least that we are showing so much interest in the developments in our neighbor Syria. To a considerable extent, whether or not the transition process can be made easier is up to the attitudes adopted by America and Europe. President Barack Obama recently spoke of boosting economic progress in the region and opportunities for employment, in addition to the obligations of financial organizations. That was definitely a step in the right direction. However, could this be enough to stop the mass migration and put out the fire that is now burning away? So far there has been no word from Europe, which is the area most affected by mass migration. Is the European Union ready to adopt new policies on trade, aid, and investment to halt the migration and increase the gross national products of these countries—which are almost all former colonies of its member states—and reduce unemployment in them? Furthermore, until the Middle East dispute is resolved, can any peace process in the Middle East be successful? Israel, the US, and the UN all have responsibilities which hardly need to be mentioned.

Turkey is acting on the basis of its traditions

The problems of Syria have to be viewed inside a broad regional and international framework of politics, economics, and society. We fall into an error if we take the easy way out and treat them as just a sectarian Islamic conflict. Preferring to do the latter will not make it easier to find a solution.

Our neighbor Syria is experiencing major humanitarian problems. If it was not, its citizens would not be fleeing to Turkey in the thousands. Regrettably, blood has been spilt. In close proximity, Turkey feels their suffering.

When humanitarian aid is required, states do not wait to be asked. This rule is surely keeping with the basic values and traditions of Turkish foreign policy. The good relations developed with the Assad regime in the recent past do not lead to the conclusion that Turkey should behave differently and violate its basic values during the process now underway.

It’s clear that Turkey is not one of the contending sides in the dispute. Syria and the wishes of its people are one and the same for us. Whatever Islamic sect and ethnic group may be involved, the blood being shed is Syrian blood. Turkey’s position toward all Syrians is fraternal and treats them equally. It sees the troubles which Syria is experiencing as its own troubles. If any of our neighbors are in need, no matter who comes to our borders, Turkey will lend them a hand regardless.

The possibility of a civil war and any instability which could spill over into the rest of the region would mean tragedy for Syria and the Middle East as a whole. Following the elections, Turkish foreign policy in all aspects has focused on Syria. Humanitarian aid and economic support are among the two main instruments of diplomacy, and Turkey is continuing to carry out its obligations in the region. At this stage, Turkey is attempting to maintain honest and constructive relations with all the sides involved. That is simply what the Turkish people expect from their government.

*This article was firstly published in July issue of USAK’s monthly strategy journal ANALİST in Turkish.

www.turkishweekly.net, 9 August 2011

August 9, 2011
Turkey’s friendship with Syria nears breaking point

By Simon Cameron-Moore

ISTANBUL | Mon Aug 8, 2011 11:31am EDT

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s friendship with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stood near breaking point as Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu prepared to visit Damascus on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to persuade Assad to stop his security forces attacking civilians.

On Sunday, one of Assad’s advisers warned Davutoglu would be given short shrift after Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said his minister would deliver a “decisive message,” having seen past entreaties to halt the violence ignored.

A Turkish official said Davutoglu would repeat the earlier calls. But the official did not want to venture into what Turkey will do if its words continue to fall on deaf ears in neighboring Syria.

Still, if Davutoglu returns empty-handed, Erdogan faces the prospect of ditching a friendship he has carefully nurtured over the past decade, leaving Assad more isolated and dependent on Iranian support than ever.

Bahadir Dincer, Middle East expert at the International Strategic Research Organization in Ankara, said he expected no change from the Syrian government given the comments from Damascus ahead of Davutoglu’s visit.

“Turkey will have to seriously consider its ties with Syria,” Dincer said. “It has been a white page for a decade now, The recent tension turned it grey, and we’ll see tomorrow if the relations are entering a red-page era.”

Having almost gone to war in the late 1990s over Syria harboring Kurdish militants, the friendship became a virtual poster-child for Erdogan’s foreign policy of “zero problems with neighbors.”

Erdogan has holidayed with Assad, their cabinets have held joint meetings, Turkey has become Syria’s biggest trading partner, the neighbors have visa-free travel between them, and Turkey tried to broker a peace deal between Syria and Israel.

NO GOING OUT ON A LIMB

The relationship with Syria has withered as Erdogan tried to encourage Assad, in vain, to make democratic reforms and end the repressive one-party rule of his Baath movement.

Events in the Arab Spring of popular protests, according to Sinan Ulgen in a paper published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, have shown Ankara now wants to be on the right side of history and is ready to stand up for issues like human rights even where it imperils ties with incumbent leaders.

The patience Erdogan has shown so far with Assad stands in contrast to the speed with which he advised Hosni Mubarak to quit as president of Egypt when street protests erupted there early this year, but that patience appears to have run out.

There is genuine outrage in Turkey, a largely secular Muslim country like Syria but also a multi-party democracy, over the brutal repression unleashed since pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in the neighboring Arab state last March.

In June, after more than 10,000 Syrians fled to Turkey to escape attacks by security forces, Erdogan described the killing of Syrian civilians as acts of savagery.

Yet, his government — like Syria’s Arab neighbors, however upset they have become about Assad’s behavior, underlined by the recall of several Gulf ambassadors on Monday — is unlikely to take any unilateral action against Damascus, according to analysts of Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East.

With the international community divided over what to do about Syria, Turkey is unlikely to go out on a limb, either through economic sanctions or military action.

“Turkey will not go to the lengths of unilateral economic sanctions. It has always argued that sanctions hurt people, not regimes,” said Semih Idiz, a columnist focused on foreign policy at Milliyet newspaper.

One big investment that could be vulnerable to a freeze in bilateral relations is a joint multi-billion-dollar dam project dubbed “Friendship Dam,” whose groundbreaking was attended by leaders of the two countries in February.

Turkey is also likely to resist any pressure to create a buffer zone inside Syrian territory, though it is reportedly a scenario that the Turkish military has made contingencies for.

“Turkey will not do anything unilateral militarily unless there is a massive spillover effect from what’s happening in Syria — a spillover of a humanitarian nature, or a threat to national security,” Idiz said.

Other analysts said Turkey should avoid being drawn into any military intervention in Syria just to please Western powers, as it would backfire on efforts to end ethnic Kurds’ long-running insurgency in southeast Turkey.

“Turkey may limit its trade and diplomatic ties with Syria. But, even if Turkey doesn’t take such steps, its clear message and attitude toward the Syrian administration will be a boost of morale to protesters,” Dincer said.

Syrians living in exile have flocked to Turkey, without any apparent encouragement from the Turkish government, for a series of meetings aimed at uniting opposition to Assad.

Any move by Turkish officials to engage the Syrian opposition would further alienate Damascus from Ankara.

And whereas Saudi Arabia withdrew its envoy to Damascus on Monday, Idiz doubted whether Turkey would want to be seen following Riyadh’s lead, lest its actions be seen through any sectarian prism.

Assad and the ruling clique in the Ba’athist Party hail from Syria’s minority Alawite community, a sect close to Iran’s dominant Shi’ites, while the majority of Syrians are Sunni.

Mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia sent troops to Bahrain in March to help stifle unrest among the emirate’s Shi’ite majority.

While most of Turkey’s population are also Sunni, it also has a small Alawite minority, and Erdogan’s government has steadfastly sought to avoid stirring sectarian issues.

Last Friday, Davutoglu said it was too soon to talk about asking the Syrian ambassador to Ankara to leave.

via Turkey’s friendship with Syria nears breaking point | Reuters.

August 9, 2011
Turkey begins work on a project to link Istanbul and Mecca by express train

The Turkish government has announced the beginning of work on a plan to restore the Hijaz raliway line built during the Ottoman era in the early 20th century which links Istanbul in Turkey to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Official Turkish media outlets reported that the plan begins with preparations of the Hijaz railway route in Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. The plan includes the launch of a high-speed train linking Istanbul and Mecca, reducing the distance between the two cities to 24 hours over a 2,200-kilometer railway.

The media reports noted that the train’s route will start in Istanbul and run via the Turkish cities of Adana and Othmaneya, before passing through Jordan with Medina as the train’s final destination.

The Turkish Railway General Manager, Soliman Kraman, expects the high-speed train to make its first trip in four years’ time, adding that it would carry more than two million passengers every year to the Holy Land for Hajj and Umrah, in addition to its role in enhancing trade between the countries in the region.

The Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hameed II, approved the plan to build the railway in 1900. The train was launched eight years later, but it was damaged during World War I, and its construction was interrupted.

via Turkey begins work on a project to link Istanbul and Mecca by express train.

August 9, 2011
Turkey’s friendship with Syria nears breaking point

By Simon Cameron-Moore

ISTANBUL

(Reuters) – Turkey’s friendship with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stood near breaking point as Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu prepared to visit Damascus on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to persuade Assad to stop his security forces attacking civilians.

On Sunday, one of Assad’s advisers warned Davutoglu would be given short shrift after Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said his minister would deliver a “decisive message,” having seen past entreaties to halt the violence ignored.

A Turkish official said Davutoglu would repeat the earlier calls. But the official did not want to venture into what Turkey will do if its words continue to fall on deaf ears in neighboring Syria.

Still, if Davutoglu returns empty-handed, Erdogan faces the prospect of ditching a friendship he has carefully nurtured over the past decade, leaving Assad more isolated and dependent on Iranian support than ever.

Bahadir Dincer, Middle East expert at the International Strategic Research Organization in Ankara, said he expected no change from the Syrian government given the comments from Damascus ahead of Davutoglu’s visit.

“Turkey will have to seriously consider its ties with Syria,” Dincer said. “It has been a white page for a decade now, The recent tension turned it grey, and we’ll see tomorrow if the relations are entering a red-page era.”

Having almost gone to war in the late 1990s over Syria harboring Kurdish militants, the friendship became a virtual poster-child for Erdogan’s foreign policy of “zero problems with neighbors.”

Erdogan has holidayed with Assad, their cabinets have held joint meetings, Turkey has become Syria’s biggest trading partner, the neighbors have visa-free travel between them, and Turkey tried to broker a peace deal between Syria and Israel.

NO GOING OUT ON A LIMB

The relationship with Syria has withered as Erdogan tried to encourage Assad, in vain, to make democratic reforms and end the repressive one-party rule of his Baath movement.

Events in the Arab Spring of popular protests, according to Sinan Ulgen in a paper published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, have shown Ankara now wants to be on the right side of history and is ready to stand up for issues like human rights even where it imperils ties with incumbent leaders.

The patience Erdogan has shown so far with Assad stands in contrast to the speed with which he advised Hosni Mubarak to quit as president of Egypt when street protests erupted there early this year, but that patience appears to have run out.

There is genuine outrage in Turkey, a largely secular Muslim country like Syria but also a multi-party democracy, over the brutal repression unleashed since pro-democracy demonstrations erupted in the neighboring Arab state last March.

In June, after more than 10,000 Syrians fled to Turkey to escape attacks by security forces, Erdogan described the killing of Syrian civilians as acts of savagery.

Yet, his government — like Syria’s Arab neighbors, however upset they have become about Assad’s behavior, underlined by the recall of several Gulf ambassadors on Monday — is unlikely to take any unilateral action against Damascus, according to analysts of Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East.

With the international community divided over what to do about Syria, Turkey is unlikely to go out on a limb, either through economic sanctions or military action.

“Turkey will not go to the lengths of unilateral economic sanctions. It has always argued that sanctions hurt people, not regimes,” said Semih Idiz, a columnist focused on foreign policy at Milliyet newspaper.

One big investment that could be vulnerable to a freeze in bilateral relations is a joint multi-billion-dollar dam project dubbed “Friendship Dam,” whose groundbreaking was attended by leaders of the two countries in February.

Turkey is also likely to resist any pressure to create a buffer zone inside Syrian territory, though it is reportedly a scenario that the Turkish military has made contingencies for.

“Turkey will not do anything unilateral militarily unless there is a massive spillover effect from what’s happening in Syria — a spillover of a humanitarian nature, or a threat to national security,” Idiz said.

Other analysts said Turkey should avoid being drawn into any military intervention in Syria just to please Western powers, as it would backfire on efforts to end ethnic Kurds’ long-running insurgency in southeast Turkey.

“Turkey may limit its trade and diplomatic ties with Syria. But, even if Turkey doesn’t take such steps, its clear message and attitude toward the Syrian administration will be a boost of morale to protesters,” Dincer said.

Syrians living in exile have flocked to Turkey, without any apparent encouragement from the Turkish government, for a series of meetings aimed at uniting opposition to Assad.

Any move by Turkish officials to engage the Syrian opposition would further alienate Damascus from Ankara.

And whereas Saudi Arabia withdrew its envoy to Damascus on Monday, Idiz doubted whether Turkey would want to be seen following Riyadh’s lead, lest its actions be seen through any sectarian prism.

Assad and the ruling clique in the Ba’athist Party hail from Syria’s minority Alawite community, a sect close to Iran’s dominant Shi’ites, while the majority of Syrians are Sunni.

Mostly Sunni Saudi Arabia sent troops to Bahrain in March to help stifle unrest among the emirate’s Shi’ite majority.

While most of Turkey’s population are also Sunni, it also has a small Alawite minority, and Erdogan’s government has steadfastly sought to avoid stirring sectarian issues.

Last Friday, Davutoglu said it was too soon to talk about asking the Syrian ambassador to Ankara to leave.

reuters.com, Aug 8, 2011

August 8, 2011
Turkey sends Syria a message that Britain cannot

Syrian visit by the Turkish foreign minister has the appearance of a showdown – but President Bashar al-Assad might listen

o Simon Tisdall

o guardian.co.uk, Sunday 7 August 2011 16.10 BST

Syrian refugees at the Boynuyogun Turkish Red Crescent refugee camp near the Syrian border. Photograph: Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty Images

The foreign secretary, William Hague, admitted last week there was not much more Britain could do to halt the Syrian crackdown, while his US counterpart, Hillary Clinton, has been reduced to counting the dead.

But Turkey, Syria’s more powerful neighbour, is less supine. It is sending its foreign minister to Damascus on Tuesday to read the riot act to Syria’s gore-soaked president, Bashar al-Assad.

Ahmet Davutoglu’s visit comes against a backdrop of daily atrocities by a regime struggling to contain the uprising. At least 42 civilians died on Sunday in army attacks on the eastern town of Deir Ezzor, activists said. Ten deaths were also reported in Houleh in central Syria. Belated promises from the regime of free, multiparty elections appear to have done nothing to defuse the crisis, which has claimed 1,600 lives since March.

Turkish alarm, bordering on anger, is humanitarian and strategic in nature. A summer cross-border surge of Syrian refugees has caused big headaches for Ankara. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, pictured right, is said to be furious that his personal pleas to Assad to stop butchering his people and adopt substantive reforms have been ignored. Erdogan has publicly condemned the regime’s “savagery”.

But Turkey is also worried by the impact of the unrest on its efforts to suppress Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) fighters active in the south-east of the country, many of whom are Syrian-born or based in Syria. A report by the National Intelligence Organisation (NIT), obtained by Today’s Zaman newspaper, says about 1,500 PKK fighters in the Kandil mountains region, straddling Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran, are of Syrian origin.

The report’s complaint that Syria is not co-operating adequately with Turkish anti-terrorism efforts recalls the 1990s, when Syria provided safe haven for the PKK, hosted its now jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, and the two countries almost went to war amid other disputes about water resources and territory. Relations have since improved but those gains are rapidly dissipating.

Iran’s refusal to share intelligence about its own anti-Kurd operations and its tightening links with the Syrian regime are another cause of Turkish concern. Davutoglu confirmed on Friday that an Iranian arms shipment to Syria had been intercepted, supposedly destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon. A Syria-bound planeload of Iranian automatic rifles, rocket launchers and mortars was seized in March.

As Assad has grown more isolated, his alliance with Tehran has gained greater importance – and become more worrying for Turkey, whose attempts to act as a go-between with Iran and western countries, for example on the nuclear issue, have irritated both sides and achieved no appreciable progress.

Against this backdrop, Davutoglu’s Damascus visit has taken on the appearance of a showdown. “We have been very patient until now, waiting to see … whether they will listen to what we have been saying … But our patience is running out now,” Erdogan said at the weekend.

What happens in Syria was an “internal affair” for Turkey, he said, given shared historical and cultural ties, and an 850km (530-mile) common border. “We cannot remain a bystander.”

Speculation is rife that if rebuffed again, Turkey may consider punitive steps ranging from diplomatic and economic measures targeting the regime to the setting up of some kind of safe haven inside northern Syria policed by the Turkish military. If such a risky intervention were undertaken, Turkey would be within its rights, following the Libyan model, to call on fellow Nato members, including Britain, for support.

Turkey’s determination to beard Assad in his lair comes amid growing Arab criticism of Syria, reflected in the Gulf Co-operation Council’s weekend call for an end to the use of “excessive force” and the pursuit of “serious reform”. Last week, Russia, a traditionally protective ally, backed a condemnatory UN security council statement. President Dmitry Medvedev warned Assad he would meet a “sad fate” if he did not change course.

All of which suggests Hague’s appeal to regional and non-western governments to do more to pressure Assad has been heard. It highlights a probable, recurring 21st-century theme. Where Britain and the US increasingly cannot or will not act, others take the lead – and may do better.

via Turkey sends Syria a message that Britain cannot | Simon Tisdall | Comment is free | The Guardian.

August 8, 2011
Syrian question sets Turkey and Iran apart

By SHLOMO BEN-AMI

MADRID — Whether the Arab Spring will usher in credible democracies across the Arab world or not remains uncertain. But while the dust has not yet settled after months of turmoil in Tunis, Cairo and elsewhere, the Arab revolts have already had a massive impact on the strategic structure of the Middle East.

Until recently, the region was divided into two camps: an incoherent and weakened moderate Arab alignment, and an “axis of resistance,” formed by Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah against American and Israeli designs for the region.

Driven by a strategy of “zero problems” with its neighbors,” Turkey’s quest for a leading role in Middle East politics brought it closer to Syria and Iran.

The Arab Spring exposed the fragile foundations upon which the entire axis of resistance was built, and has pushed it to the brink of collapse.

The first to opt out was Hamas. Fearful of the consequences of the demise of its patrons in Damascus, Hamas tactically withdrew from the axis and let Egypt lead it toward reconciliation with the pro-Western Palestinian Authority on terms that it had refused under former Egyptian Hosni Mubarak.

Turkey is genuinely interested in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute in a regional system of peace and security, whereas Iran and Hezbollah are bent on derailing both in order to deny Israel the kind of peace with the Arab world that would end up isolating Iran.

Notwithstanding its bitter conflict with Israel, Turkey, unlike Iran, is not an unconditional enemy of the Jewish state, and would not discard an accommodation with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Indeed, talks are now under way between the parties to restore more normal relations.

Nor do Iran and Turkey share a common vision with regard to the strategically sensitive Persian Gulf region. Turkey, whose 2008 treaty with the Gulf Cooperation Council made it a strategic partner of the region’s monarchies, was unequivocally assertive during the Bahrain crisis in warning Iran to cease its subversive intrusion into the region’s affairs. The stability and territorial integrity of the Persian Gulf States is a strategic priority for Turkey; that is clearly not the case for Iran.

Similarly, when it comes to Lebanon, Turkey certainly does not share Iran’s concern about the possible interruption of Hezbollah’s lifeline should the Syrian regime collapse. And Iran and Syria, for their part, have never been too happy with Prime Minister’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s aspirations to act as a broker in Lebanon, which they consider to be their strategic backyard.

This explains Hezbollah’s rejection of a Turkish-Qatari initiative to act as mediators after the fall of Saad Hariri’s Lebanese government in January.

Turkey’s commitment to peaceful democratic transitions in the Arab world has alienated it from its Syrian ally, Bashar al-Assad — with whose repressive practices both Iran and Hezbollah are fully complicit — and is now driving Iran and Turkey even further apart.

Iran is working to ensure that free elections open the way to truly Islamic regimes in the Arab world, while Turkey assumes that its own political brand, a synthesis of Islam and democracy with secular values, should ultimately prevail.

The rift reflects not only ideological differences, but also disagreement about the objective of regime change. Iran expects the new regimes to rally behind it in radically changing the region’s strategic equation through a policy of confrontation with the U.S. and Israel, while Turkey expects the new regimes to follow constructive policies of peace and security.

Instability and confusion in the Arab world serve the agenda of a radically nonstatus quo power such as Iran. Instability has the potential to keep oil prices high, benefiting the Iranian economy. Moreover, with the West focused on the formidable challenges posed by the Arab revolts, Iran finds it easier to divert the world’s attention from its nuclear program, and to circumvent the international sanctions regime designed to curtail its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons.

Turkey’s foreign policy, unlike Iran’s, needs a stable environment to prosper. Instability undermines its entire regional vision; it certainly challenges its idealistic strategy of “zero problems.” It also puts at risk Turkey’s robust economic penetration into Arab markets. And with the Kurdish problem as alive as ever, the Turks also know only too well that upheavals in neighboring countries can spill over into Turkey itself.

It is on the Syrian question that the differences between Turkey and Iran are especially apparent. Turkey has practically resigned itself to the inevitable demise of Syria’s repressive Baath regime.

For Iran and its Hezbollah clients, the fall of Assad would be nothing short of a calamity — one with far-reaching consequences.

Devoid of its Syrian alliance and estranged from Turkey, Iran would become an isolated revolutionary power whose fanatical brand of Islam is repellent to most Arab societies.

Turkey was wrong to try to gain wider influence in the Middle East by working with the region’s revolutionary forces. It is far wiser for Turkey to make common cause with the region’s responsible forces.

A democratic Egypt would certainly be a more reliable partner. Egypt has already managed to draw Hamas away from Syria into an inter-Palestinian reconciliation.

Instead of competing for the role of regional power broker, as Mubarak did, Egypt can join forces with Turkey — whose officials the Egyptians wisely invited to the ceremony that sealed the Palestinian reconciliation — to promote an Israeli-Arab peace and a civilized security system in the Middle East.

Shlomo Ben-Ami is a former Israeli foreign minister who now serves as vice president of the Toledo International Center for Peace. He is the author of “Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy.” © 2011 Project Syndicate

japantimes.co.jp, Aug. 8, 2011

August 8, 2011