Turkish Forum

Tag: Davos

  • Temper tantrums

    Temper tantrums

    Temper tantrums

    Feb 5th 2009 | ANKARA
    From The Economist print edition

    A dramatic Davos walkout raises new questions about Recep Tayyip Erdogan

    WAS it premeditated? Or did Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, lose control? Mr Erdogan’s walkout from a debate with Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, in Davos has made him the most talked about Turkish leader since Kemal Ataturk. His audience of financiers and policy wonks was stunned. But Muslims worldwide cheered as Mr Erdogan scolded Mr Peres over Israel’s war in Gaza. “When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill. I know well how you hit and kill children on beaches,” thundered a crimson-faced Mr Erdogan.

    The incident has led to new debate over Turkey’s strategic alliance with Israel, whether an increasingly erratic Mr Erdogan is fit to lead Turkey at all and, if so, in what direction: east or west? There is no question of Turkey walking away from NATO or the European Union, or scrapping military ties with Israel and America. Mr Erdogan’s critics say his outburst was a ploy to please voters. If so, it worked: his approval ratings have shot up. Polls suggest that 80% of Turks support Mr Erdogan’s actions. His mildly Islamist Justice and Development party will reap dividends in municipal elections on March 29th.

    Mr Erdogan’s defiance has also helped to assuage his people’s long-running feelings of humiliation and inferiority, which date back as far as the Ottoman defeat in the first world war. Many insist that Mr Erdogan’s reaction was spontaneous and utterly sincere. Turkey has assumed “moral leadership” based on Western values, opined Cengiz Candar, a liberal commentator. Mindful of the public mood, Turkey’s secular opposition leader, Deniz Baykal, grudgingly declared that his rival had done the right thing.

    Not everybody agrees, however. Mr Erdogan’s behaviour makes it less likely that Turkey can successfully mediate between Israel and Syria. His call to Barack Obama to “redefine” what terrorist means has been seen as an appeal to remove the label from Hamas. Although European and American reaction has been muted, in private officials are unhappy. “What [the Davos spat] does leave in Europe is the feeling that Mr Erdogan is unpredictable,” says a European diplomat. Mr Obama is highly unlikely now to pay Turkey an early visit.

    Mr Erdogan’s temper tantrums are not new. But they used to be reserved for his critics at home. The Davos affair, says another foreign diplomat, is further evidence of “Mr Erdogan’s conviction that the West needs Turkey more than Turkey needs it.” It is of a piece with Mr Erdogan’s threat to back out of the much-touted Nabucco pipeline to carry gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe via Turkey. In Brussels recently Mr Erdogan said that, if there were no progress on the energy chapter of Turkey’s EU accession talks then “we would of course review our position”. Meanwhile, Turkey sided with Saudi Arabia and the Vatican in opposing a UN statement suggested by the EU to call for the global decriminalisation of homosexuality.

    Mr Erdogan’s supporters argue that EU foot-dragging on Turkey’s membership bid explains why Turkey is now seeking new friends in the Middle East and beyond. Its growing regional clout is another reason why the EU should embrace Turkey. But the reverse is also true. It is because it is the sole Muslim country that is at once secular, democratic and allied with the West that Turkey commands such respect in the rest of the world. Growing numbers of Arab investors have flocked to Turkey, “because we see it as part of Europe, not the Middle East,” says an Arab banker in Istanbul.

    To retain its allure, Turkey will need to swallow its pride and make further concessions on Cyprus. The EU may suspend membership talks altogether unless Turkey meets a December 2009 deadline to open its ports to Greek-Cypriots. The hope is that Egemen Bagis, who was chosen as Turkey’s official EU negotiator in January, will remind Mr Erdogan that, at least in these talks, it is Turkey that is the supplicant not the other way round.

    Source:  Economist, Feb 5th 2009

  • A dramatic Davos walkout raises new questions about Recep Tayyip Erdogan

    A dramatic Davos walkout raises new questions about Recep Tayyip Erdogan

    Turkey’s prime minister

    Feb 5th 2009 | ANKARA
    From The Economist print edition

    WAS it premeditated? Or did Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, lose control? Mr Erdogan’s walkout from a debate with Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, in Davos has made him the most talked about Turkish leader since Kemal Ataturk. His audience of financiers and policy wonks was stunned. But Muslims worldwide cheered as Mr Erdogan scolded Mr Peres over Israel’s war in Gaza. “When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill. I know well how you hit and kill children on beaches,” thundered a crimson-faced Mr Erdogan.

    The incident has led to new debate over Turkey’s strategic alliance with Israel, whether an increasingly erratic Mr Erdogan is fit to lead Turkey at all and, if so, in what direction: east or west? There is no question of Turkey walking away from NATO or the European Union, or scrapping military ties with Israel and America. Mr Erdogan’s critics say his outburst was a ploy to please voters. If so, it worked: his approval ratings have shot up. Polls suggest that 80% of Turks support Mr Erdogan’s actions. His mildly Islamist Justice and Development party will reap dividends in municipal elections on March 29th.

    Mr Erdogan’s defiance has also helped to assuage his people’s long-running feelings of humiliation and inferiority, which date back as far as the Ottoman defeat in the first world war. Many insist that Mr Erdogan’s reaction was spontaneous and utterly sincere. Turkey has assumed “moral leadership” based on Western values, opined Cengiz Candar, a liberal commentator. Mindful of the public mood, Turkey’s secular opposition leader, Deniz Baykal, grudgingly declared that his rival had done the right thing.

    Not everybody agrees, however. Mr Erdogan’s behaviour makes it less likely that Turkey can successfully mediate between Israel and Syria. His call to Barack Obama to “redefine” what terrorist means has been seen as an appeal to remove the label from Hamas. Although European and American reaction has been muted, in private officials are unhappy. “What [the Davos spat] does leave in Europe is the feeling that Mr Erdogan is unpredictable,” says a European diplomat. Mr Obama is highly unlikely now to pay Turkey an early visit.

    Mr Erdogan’s temper tantrums are not new. But they used to be reserved for his critics at home. The Davos affair, says another foreign diplomat, is further evidence of “Mr Erdogan’s conviction that the West needs Turkey more than Turkey needs it.” It is of a piece with Mr Erdogan’s threat to back out of the much-touted Nabucco pipeline to carry gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe via Turkey. In Brussels recently Mr Erdogan said that, if there were no progress on the energy chapter of Turkey’s EU accession talks then “we would of course review our position”. Meanwhile, Turkey sided with Saudi Arabia and the Vatican in opposing a UN statement suggested by the EU to call for the global decriminalisation of homosexuality.

    Mr Erdogan’s supporters argue that EU foot-dragging on Turkey’s membership bid explains why Turkey is now seeking new friends in the Middle East and beyond. Its growing regional clout is another reason why the EU should embrace Turkey. But the reverse is also true. It is because it is the sole Muslim country that is at once secular, democratic and allied with the West that Turkey commands such respect in the rest of the world. Growing numbers of Arab investors have flocked to Turkey, “because we see it as part of Europe, not the Middle East,” says an Arab banker in Istanbul.

    To retain its allure, Turkey will need to swallow its pride and make further concessions on Cyprus. The EU may suspend membership talks altogether unless Turkey meets a December 2009 deadline to open its ports to Greek-Cypriots. The hope is that Egemen Bagis, who was chosen as Turkey’s official EU negotiator in January, will remind Mr Erdogan that, at least in these talks, it is Turkey that is the supplicant not the other way round.

    https://www.economist.com/europe/2009/02/05/temper-tantrums

  • Israel still dealing with international fallout

    Israel still dealing with international fallout

    By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer Matti Friedman, Associated Press Writer – Thu Feb 5, 3:24 am ET

    AP – In this Jan. 9, 2009 file photo, Turkish demonstrators chant Islamic slogans as they set fire to an Israeli …

    JERUSALEM – More than two weeks after halting its Gaza offensive, Israel is still dealing with the international fallout, including a very public spat with the leader of Turkey, a slew of war crimes allegations and broken ties with Venezuela, Bolivia and Qatar.
    It’s not quite a major diplomatic crisis, but it is a serious public relations problem for the Jewish state, which once again finds itself on the defensive against an avalanche of accusations.
    Israel’s defenders say the country was acting in self-defense and charge that no other country would be singled out for the kind of criticism that has been slung in its direction since the beginning of the Gaza offensive on Dec. 27.
    The Foreign Ministry says Israel’s important relationships are unharmed and predicts the international mood will pass.
    The three-week offensive, aimed at halting years of rocket fire at Israeli towns from Gaza, killed some 1,300 Palestinians, at least half of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians.
    Perhaps the most noteworthy outburst was Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan‘s spat with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum, usually a refined get-together for the world’s most powerful.
    “You kill people,” Erdogan snapped at Peres, shortly after Peres offered an impassioned defense of the Israeli operation and shortly before Erdogan stormed off the stage.
    Despite hurried attempts at damage control from both sides, the flap has further disrupted the close alliance between the two countries. The hordes of Israeli package tourists who vacation in Turkey are reportedly staying home.
    The Davos incident came as a Spanish judge decided to open a war crimes investigation into a 2002 incident in which an Israeli F-16 killed a top Hamas mastermind in Gaza along with 14 other people, including nine children. Though it dealt with an earlier incident, the timing was clearly linked to the current violence.
    Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela expelled the Israeli ambassador at the height of the fighting and Israel expelled the Venezuelan envoy in response. Bolivia couldn’t expel the Israeli ambassador because it doesn’t have one, but followed Chavez’s lead by announcing it was cutting off ties.
    The small Persian Gulf state of Qatar said it was freezing ties and closed Israel’s representative office — a key Israeli foothold in the Arab world — while Qatar’s fellow Arab League member Mauritania suspended relations but let the Israeli ambassador stay. Syria called off the indirect peace talks it was holding with Israel through Turkish mediators.
    Those incidents followed weeks of protests in European capitals and across the Muslim world.
    The United Nations has called for investigations of Israel’s shelling of several of the organization’s compounds in Gaza, several rights groups have suggested Israel might be guilty of violating the rules of war and a group of U.S. professors is trying to organize an academic boycott.
    The Palestinian Authority has now recognized the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, a move aimed at paving the way for a war crimes investigation, though Israel has not ratified the treaty that established the court and thus cannot be prosecuted.
    On the other hand, Israel’s most important ally, the U.S., gave its backing, with both the outgoing president and his successor stressing Israel’s right to defend itself. Street protests aside, most world governments made do with only careful criticism.
    Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, said Israel’s key international alliances were unaffected and called the outpouring of anger “a temporary phenomenon.”
    “We have come under some criticism from some countries more than from others, but basically everything can be handled within the normal framework of normal relations,” he said.
    Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov, a professor of international relations at Jerusalem‘s Hebrew University, called the current climate a “crisis situation” attributable largely to an international double standard.

    “People are expecting from us to be more moral, more just, more nice in this kind of conflict and sometimes it’s indeed very difficult,” he said. He mentioned Russia’s war in Chechnya and Turkey’s war against Kurdish rebels as examples of conflicts that caused far higher civilian casualties but received less attention and criticism.

    Many Israelis were especially rankled by Erdogan’s comments, both because Israelis generally regard Turkey as friendly and because of Turkey’s own spotty human rights record.

    “It’s a shame to look at how this prime minister behaves. He doesn’t mention what he does to the Kurds,” the Turkish-born Bar-Siman-Tov said. The conflict between Turkey and Kurdish armed groups has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the 1980s, including thousands of civilians.

    Israel has been in this position before, most recently after its 2006 war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. That war ended inconclusively, with some 1,000 Lebanese and 159 Israelis dead, and drew similar condemnations of Israel’s tactics and weaponry. Then, as now, Israel responded that it was attacked by guerrillas hiding among civilians and had no choice.

    The criticism this time resembles that of 2006, said Jonathan Spyer, an expert on international affairs at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center near Tel Aviv. Israel receives “vastly disproportionate” attention worldwide even in normal times, he said, “and in times of conflict it becomes accentuated.”

    There has been a slight change in tone, he said, because this time, unlike in the Lebanon conflict, Israel is not seen to have failed.

    “This time Israel is being portrayed as the nasty neighborhood bully, rather than as an incompetent, flailing monster,” he said.
  • “TURKISH-AMERICAN RELATIONS FROM THE REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE”

    “TURKISH-AMERICAN RELATIONS FROM THE REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE”

    GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
    ICC – 305-E
    Date: February 12, 2009
    Time: 7:00 PM

    * Please RSVP to Duygu Ozcan at pr@arifoundation.org
    * Refreshments will be served

    ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
    To be sure, a new chapter in the U.S.-Turkey relations will once again
    be written in 2009. Following the Gaza crisis in Israel, the tension
    between Israel and Turkey has been increasing. The upcoming local
    elections in Turkey might be the underlying reason of Turkish Prime
    Minister Erdogan’s strong stance on the Gaza crisis; however, its
    implications on the U.S.-Turkish relations are still indefinite. The
    future will present new challenges for the U.S.-Turkey relations once
    President Obama takes its position on the foreign affairs arena.

    KEYNOTE SPEAKER
    Murat Karagoz, First Counselor, Embassy of Turkey, Washington, D.C.

    Yurter Ozcan, President, ARI Foundation, discussion moderator

    KEYNOTE SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
    Murat Karagoz is a First Counselor at the Embassy of Turkey in
    Washington, D.C. Between 2004-2006, Karagoz also served as a private
    advisor to the Undersecretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
    Turkey. Prior to assuming that position in September 2004, Karagoz
    worked as the First Secretary, then Counselor at Turkish Permanent
    Mission to the U.N. in New York (2000-2004) and served as a Second
    Secretary at Turkish Permanent to NATO in Brussels (1995-1997) and as
    a Third Secretary at Turkish Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria (1992-1995).
    He received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Istanbul
    University in 1989 and attained his Master’s degree in Political
    Science from University of New York in 2007.

  • The Travel Advisory: Israeli tourism to Turkey plunges

    The Travel Advisory: Israeli tourism to Turkey plunges


    Jan. 31, 2009 Mark Feldman , THE JERUSALEM POST
    For many years, Turkey has been the most popular tourist destination for Israelis. Turkish resorts from Antalya to Bodrum have offered us first-class service at reasonable rates. At first, it was the casinos that attracted the tourists. Then, when the Muslim government closed them down, the resorts reinvented themselves. Luxury locations sprang up like mushrooms after the rain. Some resorts stayed traditional, while others became quite exotic, with one modeling itself on the Kremlin and another taking the Titanic as its vision. All exist to spoil tourists with their all-inclusive packages. A two-hour flight takes you to Istanbul. The charms of Istanbul, coupled with an exotic environment, has had Turkish Airlines and a multitude of Turkish charters flying more passengers to Turkey than any other foreign airline. No more. Although Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has since toned down his remarks, saying they were against the government and not the people of Israel, his repeated criticism of Israel during the recent war against Hamas has led to a severe downturn in Israelis flying to Turkey. Erdogan called Operation Cast Lead “a crime against humanity,” deploring what he saw as excessive force and suggesting that Israel be barred from the United Nations. He accused Israel of “perpetrating inhuman actions which would bring it to self-destruction,” adding that “Allah will sooner or later punish those who transgress the rights of innocents.”

    There have been boycotts from the Israeli consumer in the past, but never on this level. The anger is both deep and palpable. Across the country, travel agents report, Israelis are voting with their feet and avoiding travel to Turkey. Wholesalers report a 70 percent drop in flight bookings, and reservations to the resorts have all but disappeared. Turkish Airlines has also been severely damaged. The national carrier of Turkey is known as an excellent airline with great security. It prides itself on its expansive network with three daily flights to Istanbul that also take passengers to other international destinations. Customers in the past have often flown Turkish Airlines to New York, Cape Town, all over Europe and the Far East. Turkish Airlines has been strident in keeping airfares very competitive and was used by clients seeking inexpensive prices to destinations beyond Istanbul. In fact, Turkish Airlines was quite proud of marketing itself with Istanbul as a hub for close to 100 cities to which it flies outside of Turkey. No more. Travel Agency executives report that clients are willing to pay more and fly another airline rather than transit Istanbul Airport. They view Turkish Airlines as a symbol of the Turkish government. There have been reports that Turkish consumer groups are calling for a boycott on Israeli products. This would obviously damage Israel’s business interests and put companies at risk. Trade between Israel and Turkey in 2008 was close to $3 billion. Over 500,000 Israelis chose to travel to Turkey in 2008. Dropping millions of hard-earned dollars and shekels, they thought the Turkish people were appreciating them. Officials from the Turkish Ministry of Tourism make constant visits to Israel, promoting more and more sites, to encourage the Israeli travel agents to sell more Turkey. We may be a thick-skinned people but when push comes to shove, Israeli consumers, along with their western counterparts, take such criticism and actions seriously. The results in the last few weeks have been surprising. It’s gratifying to see that some principles remain sacrosanct and that the lure of an inexpensive trip is not inviolable. Israeli travelers are electing to take off at the last minute for cities in Europe rather than patronize these resorts. With prices falling dramatically due to the fall in the price of oil, keeping airfares and packages at bargain basement levels, Israelis are choosing to go elsewhere.

    Skiing in the mountains of Turkey is no longer an option. Israeli bloggers are doing their best to keep this issue in the forefront. Keeping in mind that we’re in the middle of the winter and the start of a recession, the question is how long will this anger last? Gauging the intensity of the people writing blogs leads me to believe that it could be a long hard winter. When consumers feel so insulted and an Israeli basketball team is forced to forfeit a game in Ankara due to the unruly and threatening behavior of the crowd, memories remain vivid. El Al stopped flying to Istanbul last year, citing security costs and the inability to make money on the route. Israeli charter companies have also curtailed their flight schedule. This means that until the Turkish government makes amends or warmer weather leads to cooler minds, Istanbul will revert back to Constantinople and be only a pleasant memory for that most demanding client – the Israeli traveler.
    Mark Feldman is the CEO of “Ziontours”, Jerusalem.
    For questions and comments email him at mark.feldman@ziontours.co.il
    This article can also be read at
    https://www.jpost.com/ /servlet/Satellite?cid=1233304644824&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull
    [ Back to the Article ]
    Copyright 1995- 2009 The Jerusalem Post – https://www.jpost.com/

    Dear Mr. Feldman,

    I read your article in the JPost about the economic retraction of the Israelis in regards to their vacation and trade choice of Turkey. May it be, but it is never the one way road. If that is the true attitude of the people of Israel and the government, please announce tomorrow that your defense companies are withdrawing their business deals with the Turkish Military. I don’t think so. Because the money is so sweet in these deals.

    Your writings sounds like what your government wants to say to Turkish government, but won’t say it out loud. At this point, your expression of “when push comes to show” is also true for the people of Turkey. I know that your lobbyists are sending messages to the Turkish government saying that unless what Mr. Erdoğan has said and done is somehow retracted by him or his government, you will support the Armenians in their never ending quest of passing so called “acknowledgment of Armenian genocide” through the American Senate.  So it may be. But, that even, as you might very well know, will not changed the fact that the so called genocide is no more than the exaggerations of Armenians’. They know very well that they “bit the hand that fed them” by revolting against the Ottoman army which they were the soldiers of. If the genocide was true, why rest of the Armenians did not suffer of the same fate.

    My dear friend. No one on these day and time is “special” as a human race, including your people. Everyone has a right to live in peace and prosper through their own abilities, including you, me, people of Palestine and everyone else on the face of the earth. Unless you stop your own acting of “us and only us, no one else matters” attitude, what happens over there will never stop. No one is cheering when Hamas send rockets over, but no one is also not cheering when you send over your bombs either. The only winner is the creators of the war machines. You know this as well.

    In between the lines you are saying (and threatening) that you will not commerce with Turkey anymore. Fine, then the people of Turkey will not commerce with Israel either. The people of Turkey will put pressure on the government and the military not to buy any Israeli products, and we both will be fine. People of Turkey will not suffer without the Israeli products just as Israelis will be OK if they don’t vacation in Turkey. For the Turkish Airlines, they were doing just fine before and will do so after the flight are reduced to 1 a day.

    I worked with the Jewish doctors for about 10 days when the earthquake happened in my hometown in 1999.  They were just fine people. My father was even treated in the military hospital that was erected. And, I appreciated very much. The doctors there were just fine people. It was an humanitarian act that was appreciated very much.  I am sure the Turkish doctors will be there if needed as well. What is wrong with that? When the life as we know comes to an end, where will be the Jewish people? Left alone by the almighty God? I don’t think so.

    Mr. Feldman, this is an e-mail from a layman in Turkiye to a layman in Israel. My wish is for you to respect the right to life of Palestinians just as it is my wish to Palestinian people to respect the right to life or your people. There is no other way for peace which serves for you and me.

    Regards

    Shamil

    Assoc.Prof.Dr.Gül Celkan
    Eastern Mediterranean University
    Coordinator for the Rector’s Office
    Faculty Member, Department of ELT
    Gazimagusa, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
    +903926301538
    gul.celkan@emu.edu.tr
    Mersin-10, Turkey

  • American Jewish Committee Letter to the PM R.T.Erdogan

    American Jewish Committee Letter to the PM R.T.Erdogan

    From: BENJAMIN YAFET [mailto:byafet@juno.com]

    Open Letter to the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan

    “Dear Prime Minister Erdogan”
    by David A. Harris
    Executive Director, American Jewish Committee
    February 1, 2009

    Dear Prime Minister Erdogan,

    I write as a friend of Turkey.

    These days, though, I’m finding it harder to feel well-disposed. I’ve been stunned by things I’ve heard, seen, and read in recent weeks. The outburst of animosity for Israel and the anxiety awakened in the Turkish Jewish community make me wonder what’s going on and what the future holds.

    If this only emanated from the “street” or from an extremist fringe, it would be worrisome enough. But it goes deeper – and higher. It starts at the very top. Yours has been the loudest voice, and you have used it to attack Israel in a manner that is not only vicious, but also disconnected from the facts.

    Let me step back for a moment.

    I have long admired Turkey. Like all countries, it’s not perfect, but there is much to appreciate.

    As an American, I have valued Turkey’s strategic partnership with the U.S. and the close ties that have linked our two countries.

    As a Jew, I have always remembered the Ottoman Empire’s warm welcome to Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition and the rich history of the Jewish presence in Turkey.

    As a democrat, I have appreciated Turkey’s commitment to many values I cherish, including its participation with the Allied nations in the Korean War and its front-line role in NATO.

    As a friend of Israel, I have witnessed the strengthening of bilateral links between Ankara and Jerusalem over the years, serving the vital interests of both nations, as many Turks and Israelis have learned to appreciate.

    As a peace-seeker, I have been grateful for the role of Turkish peacekeeping forces, including in southern Lebanon, not to mention the facilitation of indirect talks between Israel and Syria.

    In that spirit, I have acted on the assumption that friends help friends.

    When Ankara has needed assistance in Washington, or even in European capitals, Turkish officials have often turned to American Jewish groups, ours among them. Whenever we could, as you know, we have been there to help.

    When Turkey was struck by a major earthquake in 1999, we were there to build a school in the devastated region of Adapazari as a gesture of solidarity and friendship.

    And when Turks in Germany were targeted by hate crimes, we spoke up. Indeed, in 1993, we traveled from New York solely to attend the funeral service at the Cologne mosque after an arson attack killed five Turkish women in nearby Solingen.

    I don’t say these things to pat ourselves on the back, but to underscore our deep commitment to the relationship – in many ways, over many years.

    Which brings us to the present.

    Mr. Prime Minister, you have described Israeli policy in Gaza as a “massacre” and a “crime against humanity” that would bring about Israel’s “self-destruction” through divine punishment. These words are inflammatory, and they are wrong.

    You seem to believe that Israel had other ways to deal with the relentless barrage of missiles and mortars fired at its civilians, even though months of restraint accomplished nothing.

    You contend that Hamas is a reasonable negotiating partner. You even invited its leaders to Ankara, though it had not met the Quartet’s demands to recognize Israel, renounce violence, and abide by previous agreements. It still has not done so, and it still seeks Israel’s destruction with weapons imported from your neighbor, Iran.

    You have accused Israel of deliberately seeking to kill civilians. In reality, as British Colonel Richard Kemp told the BBC, “I don’t think there has ever been a time in the history of warfare when any army has made more efforts to reduce civilian casualties. … Hamas has been trained extensively by Iran and by Hezbollah to use the civilian population in Gaza as a human shield.”

    Even if you disagreed, you might have been respectful of such public criticism of Hamas, whether from Col. Kemp, EU official Louis Michel, Egyptian and Saudi leaders, or, in more hushed tones, some Gaza residents themselves. Instead, you accused “Jewish-backed media” of spreading falsehoods.

    Mr. Prime Minister, Israel yearns for a secure and lasting peace. No one has more fully embodied that hunger for peace, or worked more tirelessly to achieve a new start for the Middle East, than Shimon Peres – Israel’s president, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and your fellow panelist at Davos last week.

    Yet, in your remarks, you essentially called him a child-killer. And, inexplicably, you quoted an obscure ex-Israeli who has turned into a rabid anti-Semite.

    And then you left, claiming that the moderator had been unfair. We hope the conciliatory phone call between you and President Peres helped to repair the breach, but, make no mistake, damage has been done. By storming off the stage, you not only insulted him, but you harmed the image of Turkey. Maybe you gained popularity in the Turkish street, where anger against Israel and Jews has been stoked in recent weeks, but you did your country no service by your unstatesmanlike behavior.

    Mr. Prime Minister, I wonder what Turkey would do if its population were targeted, day after day, by merciless enemies determined to wreak havoc, terrorize, and intimidate.

    But wait. We know exactly how Turkey would act if it saw its national interests endangered.

    When Turkey feared union between Greece and Cyprus, it rushed troops to the northern part of the island in 1974. A new government was declared. The UN Security Council later “deplore[d] the declaration of the Turkish Cypriot authorities of the purported succession.” Only Turkey recognized the new state. And over the years, the population of the Turkish part of the island markedly increased. Where did the growth come from? Observers insisted that it was a policy of settlement from Turkey.

    Now, however, you assert that Israel should not be “allowed to enter through the gates of the UN” because it has defied the Security Council.

    Turkey knows something about terrorism. The PKK has targeted your country for years, initially seeking an independent Kurdish state that included part of Turkey. Now it claims to seek greater autonomy for the millions of Kurds living in Turkey. Even as the PKK has apparently lowered its demands, has Turkey pursued talks with that murderous group?

    Absolutely not.

    Indeed, I recall a rather blunt threat from Ankara to neighboring Syria in the late 1990s: If the PKK continued to receive protection there, the Turkish army would cross the border and take matters into its own hands. Luckily for Turkey, Syria was smarter than Hamas. It got the message. I also remember last year’s incursion of Turkish forces into northern Iraq to stem PKK attacks from there.

    But now, you demand that we “redefine terror and terrorism in the Middle East.”

    And wasn’t it Turkey, objecting to Armenian policy toward Azerbaijan, that chose to close its border with landlocked Armenia from 1993 to today? Yet you now accuse Israel of creating “an open-air prison” by sealing its own frontier with a hostile territory.

    Please understand me. I am not – I repeat, not – seeking here to pass judgment on Turkey’s actions. Rather, I am simply recounting them to show what happens when the shoe is on the other foot.

    It’s so easy to tell another country what it should or shouldn’t do in the face of threats, especially when one’s own country is ten times more populous and 38 times larger. But ultimately, Israel, like its friend Turkey, must make tough choices to protect its citizens.

    Mr. Prime Minister, only you know how far you want to take your belligerent posture. It has already resulted in damage to your country’s reputation in the United States, concern for the well-being of the Turkish Jewish community, and, no doubt, joy in Iran and Hamas’ radical circles.

    The Turkey I know and admire would recoil from partners like Iran and Hamas. Their central beliefs are antithetical to everything that modern, democratic Turkey ought to stand for.

    And so, even as I worry, wonder, and despair, I’ll be watching, waiting, and, yes, hoping.