Turkish warships visit Israel.
Hot News: According to Reuters, the Turkish Navy frigate "Mustafa Rais" docked in Israel's northern port city of Haifa on September 3, marking the first time a Turkish naval vessel has docked in an Israeli port since 2010.
Comments: Turkey was once an important strategic partner of Israel in the Middle East, and the two countries have carried out close cooperation in military and intelligence. However, in the past decade or so, due to divergent views and opinions on regional security issues, the relations between the two countries have been twisting and turning, and even tense. Recently, with the changes in the security situation in the Middle East, the relations between major regional powers have eased, which has also brought new opportunities for the improvement of Turkey-Israel relations, and there have been signs of "warming up". The pursuit of improved relations between the two countries is both the result of the respective interests of both sides and the international security situation, which will bring benefits to peace and stability in the Middle East. Judging from the future development, since it is not yet possible to reach complete agreement on key issues such as Palestine, although both Turkey and Israel are willing to improve relations, the road to détente will still face many factors, and bilateral relations will continue to advance in twists and turns.
In recent years, the level of Turkey's local shipbuilding industry has improved a lot, and it has built a multi-type warship independently, and the picture shows the "Island" class frigate.
The development of Turkish-Israeli relations has ups and downs
Turkey and Israel have a long historical tradition, and the two sides have also established a close cooperative relationship and had a "honeymoon period". For example, after Israel declared its statehood in 1948, Turkey was the first Islamic state to recognize Israel. In 1958, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Mendez met in secret, and the two sides reached a "peripheral pact" to strengthen cooperation between the two sides in intelligence and military.
However, as the two countries have different views on regional issues such as Palestine, Kurdism, and oil and gas development in the Eastern Mediterranean, relations have gradually become tense and friction has emerged. In particular, after the current President of Turkey, Erdogan, came to power, he was increasingly inclined to support Palestine, and relations between the two sides became more tense.
In May 2010, the Israeli Navy intercepted a Turkish rescue ship, the Blue Marmara, delivering supplies to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, killing 10 Turks and erupting into a diplomatic war between Turkey and Israel. Turkey demanded that the Israeli side apologize and compensate for the losses, but was refused, so at one point recalled its ambassador to Israel. At the same time, Israel has expressed dissatisfaction with Turkey's admission of members of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), one of nato's members, and relations between the two countries have fallen to a freezing point, and it was not until June 2016 that they agreed to re-exchange ambassadors and normalize relations. However, in May 2018, the relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem sparked massive Palestinian protests and clashes with Israeli forces, resulting in the death and injury of a large number of Palestinian Protest demonstrators. Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel again and expelled the Israeli ambassador to Turkey and the consul general in Istanbul, and relations between the two sides once again fell into a low ebb.
In early 2021, with the ouster of then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the rise of a new government, the two countries began to gradually try to restore contact. In March this year, at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Israeli president visited Turkey again after a gap of 14 years, and both sides expressed their hope to restart political dialogue, reduce differences and strengthen cooperation. Erdogan described the visit as a "turning point" in relations between the two countries, and then from May to June, the Turkish and Israeli foreign ministers exchanged visits, the first visit to Israel by a Turkish foreign minister in 15 years. On August 17, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office issued a statement announcing the resumption of diplomatic relations with Turkey and the resumption of the exchange of ambassadors and consuls, marking the full resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The fact that Israel allowed Turkish warships to dock ports is a major measure for the two countries to further consolidate and develop bilateral relations, which is of great significance to promoting and maintaining regional security and stability.
Turkish Navy ships.
The relationship between the two sides is close to each other's needs
Judging from the actual situation between Turkey and Israel, seeking to ease relations is in line with the interests of both sides at this stage. Both countries need a relatively peaceful and stable environment for development, and both hope to alleviate domestic and foreign difficulties through strengthened cooperation. In the case of Israel, which has been in opposition to Iran, Turkey and the Arab states as a whole, has been relatively isolated in the regional situation. In order to reverse this situation, Israel, with the mediation of the United States, has actively sought to improve tensions with regional powers. For example, in 2020, Israel signed the Abraham Accords with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Morocco, taking the lead in normalizing relations with the three countries. Israel believes that Turkey, as a major power in the Middle East and a member of NATO, maintains good relations with it, can win a more relaxed and favorable situation, and can also get the opportunity to deepen cooperation with NATO. According to an IDF statement, allowing the Turkish frigate to dock in Haifa is also part of Israel's deepening cooperation with NATO, which greatly shows Israel's support for NATO. In addition, as the Iranian nuclear agreement is about to restart, Israel also hopes to win more countries to jointly target Iran and isolate Iran as much as possible.
For Turkey, it has been playing a delicate role in the regional security landscape due to its unique geopolitical location and "multiple" identities. For example, although Turkey is a member of NATO, it has always maintained good cooperative relations with Russia, and as an Islamic country with a predominantly Sunni population, it has maintained close relations with Iran and other Arab countries, so it has been active in international and regional hotspots. At present, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is still continuing, and Turkey is naturally unwilling to let go of the opportunity to participate in the new regional pattern, hoping to participate in the construction of a new order in the Middle East through more regional cooperation, so as to play more role in the new geopolitical pattern.
However, because Turkey has long adopted a relatively tough attitude in its foreign policy, it has not only aroused the dissatisfaction of many countries in the West and the Middle East, but also made its own development face many difficulties. In order to improve the situation, Turkey began to adjust its policies from 2020, taking the initiative to show goodwill to "old enemies" and repair relations with regional countries, including Israel. For example, starting in November 2021, the leaders of Turkey and the UAE began to exchange visits, reaching consensus on many issues. Normalizing Relations between Israel, as a staunch ally of the United States, could also promote the improvement of Relations between Turkey and the United States, thereby reaping more practical benefits, such as lifting the arms blockade against Turkey and replacing F-16 fighter jets. In short, whether it is historical friction or the current stage of ice relief, the fundamental starting point of Turkey and Israel has always been to meet the demands of their own national interests.
The Israeli Navy is equipped with "Sal"-5 class frigates.
The future warming momentum remains to be seen
From the perspective of the geopolitical environment in the Middle East, after experiencing repeated turbulence and order chaos in the past, coupled with internal and external factors such as the impact of the new crown epidemic that has not yet fully recovered the global economy, the countries in the Middle East are increasingly aware that seeking mutual cooperation is crucial to the future of their countries. Whether it is Israel or Turkey, or the entire Middle East region, we need a relatively stable environment to get out of their own predicament, obtain more opportunities for regional cooperation, and achieve common development in their own countries and regions. Therefore, in recent years, Middle Eastern countries have accelerated the pace of mutual understanding and cooperation, continuously promoted the cooling of regional geopolitical games, reshaped a relatively stable new regional order, and rebalanced forces.
In this security situation, the warming and complete normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel can also be said to be a process of following the trend and "water to water", which is also the result that the countries of the Middle East want to see and promote. As far as the Palestinian-Israeli issue is concerned, which is the biggest constraint restricting the development of Turkish-Israeli relations, the core issue in the region has become increasingly marginalized in the context of the changes in the geopolitical pattern of the Middle East, and its heat and urgency are far less than those of other regions and global issues, and it is no longer the most important consideration for Middle Eastern countries in carrying out diplomatic activities. Turkey, in particular, has always pursued pragmatic diplomacy, and since the second half of last year, Turkey has lowered its "tune- and control" of its support for Hamas, and has also imposed some restrictions on the appearances and visits of Hamas leaders in the media to avoid the impact of the Palestinian issue on the improvement of Israeli-Turkish relations. Israel has also reciprocated, deliberately downplaying and avoiding The Kurds in recent times, which has made the contradictions that may trigger conflicts between Turkey and Israel relatively calm.
However, it should be noted that although Israel and Turkey are actively working hard to restore normal state-to-state relations based on their respective interests and development needs, this does not mean that Israel-Turkey relations have completely abandoned their previous suspicions and can quickly develop into close and seamless partners. Since the two countries have only temporarily shelved irreconcilable contradictions on a number of important international and regional issues, especially on the Palestinian issue, the differences between the positions of the two countries are still sharp and have not changed substantively. Turkey, for example, has long opposed Israel's siege and occupation of the Gaza Strip, and just after the three-day Israeli airstrikes against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Jhad) in the Gaza Strip in early August, Erdogan repeatedly denounced Israel, saying that "there is no excuse for killing Palestinian children". Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu also said in Ankara on August 17 that the exchange of ambassadors between Turkey and Israel does not mean that Turkey will "abandon the Palestinian cause." It is worth noting that when Turkey announced the location of its ambassador to Israel, it was not the official capital "Jerusalem" that Israel called, but the selection of Tel Aviv in accordance with the usual practice. Such an approach is not only a gesture of overture to palestine, but also a warning to Israel, which is enough to show that the Palestinian-Israeli issue remains the "political red line" for the development of bilateral relations.
Judging from the prospects for future development, under the impetus of the international situation and the regional pattern and the needs of their respective strategic considerations, Israel and Turkey will further expand the field of cooperation, and the momentum of easing relations will continue. However, due to the contradictions and complex games between the two countries, especially the Palestinian issue will continue to play an important role in Israeli-Turkish relations, it remains to be seen whether the momentum of the warming up of bilateral relations can be sustained.
(Bing Taozhi is a personal column opened by Ling Yunzhi, a researcher at the Asia-Pacific Development Research Center of Nanjing University, for the surging defense column, taking stock of recent major defense events, commenting on the mysteries hidden behind the information, peeling off the cocoon and drawing silk, dusting gold, one issue every two weeks, not seeing or scattering)