Turkey and Israel: Will they ever be enemies? 

by Ejaz Khan

Whenever there’s a new onslaught on Gaza, Turkey’s President Tayyib Erdogan is amongst the first to voice his opposition to Israel’s aggression.

After a while, ambassadors return and its business as usual… until the next attack on Gaza. Rinse and repeat.

 Once again, after Israel’s latest attack on protestors, ambassadors have been pulled.

Is it different this time around? Many think so.

Radio Islam international spoke to Political analyst Ahmed al Burai LIVE from Istanbul :

 You can easily say that it is only Turkey that you hear with very strong condemnation, the way they dealt with the ambassador in Ankara, how they summoned there own.

It’s a kind of message that muslims are not a small entity, we do have our own pride and dignity and Israel should know that by violating international Law, by committing these types of Mass killings , all these things will not pass without any punishment… and that is what Turkey is doing.”

 

But can Turkey truly break free from the pacts that have bound them to Israel for so long ?
Many point towards the wonderful work Erdogan has done to slowly but surely return Islam to the lives of the Turks. Such is Ataturk’s legacy that till now the damage of his time in power is not fully repaired and may never be. Turks still see him as the Father of the Nation, remembered for positive things, weirdly, not the removal of Islam from the lives of a strong muslim nation, and Also, Not for signing pacts with Israel. Turks are in a terrible position watching their soldiers conduct joint war games training with the apartheid state.

Sadly, it will always be remembered that Turkey became the first muslim majority state to recognize Israel in 1949. Why this is still the case is one of the mysteries of modern times. “Politics” as its called. Turning a blind eye to genocide is closer to the mark.

There are numerous videos of fiery speeches and Erdogan has been made to seem like a mini Mahdi of the time. And then on the opposite extreme there are those who seek to play down his achievements.
There is no middle ground.

 Who will be the savior of the Muslim world from within the muslim world ?

For now, there seems to be no real takers for the role.
We wait, keeping an eye on the sky.