Lost At Sea

Full disclosure: I owe the Turkish people my existence. Five hundred and eighteen years ago, the Christians rulers of Spain went on the mother of all pogroms, the Spanish Inquisition. The result was an outbreak of violence, torture and expulsion that destroyed the “Golden Age of Judaism.” Sensing an opportunity for his empire, the Ottoman sultan, Beyazit II, invited the Sephardic Jews of Spain into his realm. There, until the near collapse of that empire in 1914, my family lived peacefully in the city of Ankara. Protected and granted religious and economic tolerance, they contributed to the wealth of the Ottoman dynasties. I’ve visited wealthy family members who still live there and had an enjoyable time amongst the hospitable Turkish people. So it is with great sadness that I see the strong bond of cooperation: economic, personal and military, fray between Turkey and Israel.

In a chilling interview conducted by Wall Street Journal reporter Robert Pollack, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan descends into an anti-Semitic madness reminiscent of his new pal Ahmadinejad. Read the article for yourself at ---- . Erdogan and his Islamist party are trying to change the face of Turkey, and not for the first time. The tug of war between the Ataturk secularists and the Islamists, which has been going on since 1923, is once again in full view.

We agree that the Israeli interdiction of the Mavi Marmara could have been better handled. From a narrative perspective, the Israelis lost because the world almost always sides with the oppressed and today’s Palestinians and Gazans are the Jews of old, the Jews of the Exodus -- stateless, oppressed, blockaded and powerless. For Israelis, ignoring this reality, the reality the world is conditioned to see, is done at their peril.

Beyond this flotilla flare-up, however, are key questions regarding the hugely important role of Turkey. Why would a seemingly modern secular state embrace the medieval religious repressive murderous theocracy of Iran? Why would a NATO member kiss and hug a non-elected fanatic who imprisons, rapes, and kills thousands of his young people? Why would Erdogan want to be seen with Ahmadinejad, let alone cozy up to him? Why would a people known for commercial savvy co-sponsor a ridiculous proposal to recycle Iran’s nuclear material that didn’t survive the light of logic for even a week?

Java Jag can think of two possibilities. First, Erdogan is an Iranian agent. This happens. Young people in political circles are recruited by foreign governments early on and given help succeeding. No one knows the real religious mindset of Erdogan. He may be a quiet believer in the 13th imam’s imminent arrival. Or he may just be, as his party platform states, a believer in Shiria law and the unification of Islamic religious and political power. He, like Ahmadinejad, sits atop a ruined empire. His ruin however is more recent as the political, religious theocracy that ruled much of the world collapsed a mere 88 years ago. The arrest and trials of the secular generals, his attacks on and suppression of the press, his encouragement and pandering to the religious tribalists pouring into Turkey’s cities, is a page out of the Ahmadinejad playbook. His hysteria over the flotilla and subsequent threats to Israel are like those of Russian client-states towards the west during the Cold War. In short, he appears to be an Iranian puppet.

Possibility two. He is using the old Nasser tactic of being the master of the Arab street to enhance his domestic and pan-Arab standing. In the blame game of the Arab world, obsessing about the Palestinians and stoking the kind of street outrage now going on in Istanbul is a sure way to distract your population from your failure to deliver domestic goods and a sound economy.

While Turkey has an enviable growth curve in its GDP, that increase has not kept up with population growth. Its economy is corruption based, its system of governance still Byzantine. Lately, its efforts at modernity are complicated by the shadow of religious influence and a turning away from civil law that gives foreign investors pause. What better way to employ the youthful unemployed than have them burn Zionist flags for a living? Creating an enemy called Israel is often the center plank of political survival for a Muslim politician. Then, of course, this distraction gives cover to brutal Kurdish repression. Turkey’s use of U.S supplied military jets against Kurdish villages is precisely the type of asymmetric warfare that outrages everyone when Israel uses it against Gazans.

The shocking, but not surprising, Europe-and-beyond worldwide pile-on against Israel gives legitimacy to Erdogan, a fact that unfortunately will only encourage more bad behavior.

Perhaps Anders Rasmussen, head of NATO forces, should sit down with Erdogan and ask him point blank what’s going on. Or better yet, maybe his own generals will turn the tables on him and use state prosecutors to tap his phone calls to Ahmadinejad. I would love to read those transcripts.