Turkey-Israel reconciliation promises positive and substantive ends
By Amina Nazarli
After six years of tensions, Israel and Turkey have decided to ride to a smooth path their relations that cracked significantly by force of unpleasant developments.
A reconciliation agreement the parties achieved recently is expected to mend their once fruitful bilateral cooperation in different spheres.
Tel Aviv and Ankara signed an agreement on June 27 to end the years of political confrontation and restore diplomatic relations suspended because of the Israeli assault on the Gaza Flotilla in 2010, in which ten Turkish activists died.
On the next day after the agreement, Israeli Housing and Construction Minister Yoav Gallant said that the two countries are "very close" to reaching a reconciliation agreement, after almost six years of tensions.
In Rome, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal would help bring "stability" to the turbulent Middle East and his Turkish counterpart, Binali Yildirim, made a simultaneous announcement in Ankara.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Binali Yildirim, his new handpicked prime minister, appear determined to rescue Turkey from its increasing political and diplomatic isolation in the international arena, as the government is now keen to repair its relations with a number of countries, including Israel, Egypt, Russia and Syria.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also joined the supporters, emphasizing that Turkey improving relations with Russia and Israel will have a positive impact on the whole region. "This is a good coincident, the normalization of relations with Russia and Israel. This is what we want with all our neighbors," Cavusoglu said.
Experts have already put forward their hypothesis on restoration of the relations between the two countries, and many referring to economic interests of both sides.
Israeli political scientist Zeev Khanin admitted that the idea of reconciliation between Turkey and Israel was perceived ambiguously, what also showed a public opinion survey, conducted the day after signing of the agreement by Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu and Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry Dori Gold in Ankara, on principles of settlement of the conflict.
“However, the arguments of the supporters for the normalization of relations with Turkey amounted to the fact that Israel and Turkey associated extensive and diverse economic interests. A further factor is the willingness of Turks to be a reliable and stable markets for the gas found in the Israeli shelf. Moreover, it is not only about energy supplies to Turkey itself, but also about Turkey's interest and willingness to become a hub for transporting them further to Europe, which are thought to be cheaper than creating a relevant infrastructure bypassing the country,” the expert told Day.az.
Experts say the deal would give a big boost to the Israeli economy by opening the key Turkish market to Israeli natural gas exports and by providing a gateway to the European market as well. As the two states move to restore their relationship, both sides are looking forward to the opportunity to transfer Israel’s natural gas to Turkey, a move which could happen as early as 2019.
According to Israeli Energy and Natural Resources Minister Yuval Steinitz, transportation of Israeli gas through the TANAP, which is part of the project "Southern Gas Corridor" on delivery of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, may benefit both Turkey and Israel.
There are also arguments that after the recent crack in European Union, where Turkey aspired to be part of, Ankara has decided to gain a foothold in the region and targets to have a leading role by normalizing relations with neighboring countries.
Others, however, believe that, the recovery of the ties can be aimed at strengthening the fight against terrorism and help in preventing tragedies like the one that occurred in Turkey recently.
Indeed, Turkey is a strong state, and capable to respond to these challenges alone. However, the normalization of relations with Moscow and Tel Aviv will strengthen counter terrorist threats and to achieve stabilization in the region.
Political scientist, Rasim Musabayov, also believes that the two countries have decided to normalize relations because it is in their national interests.
Before the incident with the Turkish ship "Mavi Marmara", these countries were linked mutually with beneficial military and economic relations.
“Taking into account the crisis situation in Syria and Iraq, as well as other risks in the Middle East, it might irrationally delay the normalization of Turkish-Israeli relations. Tel Aviv has made the necessary steps for the exhaustion of the incident, apologizing and agreeing to pay $20 million compensation to the families of those killed and wounded, and Ankara, satisfied with this, declaring its readiness to resume diplomatic relations in full,” Musabayov told Day.az.
Undoubtedly, normalization of relations between Israel and Turkey, which is an important partner of Azerbaijan, will be a positive factor in the rapidly developing bilateral relations between Jerusalem and Baku. It will be an opportunity for Azerbaijan, which is in a state of war with Armenia, and would pave the way for the protection of the fair position on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in favor of Azerbaijan.
Speaking about normalization of relations between Turkey and Russia, however, the politician added that the process will take time, but even with their full restoration of arguments about geopolitical triangles such as Ankara-Baku-Moscow and Ankara-Baku-Tel Aviv is still far from reality. “Although some projects, particularly in economic field can be realized with the participation of the three parties, which will benefit each of them,” he said.
The recent sudden move on the political board indeed suggests considerable ends for all players, but hopefully positive and substantive.
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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli
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