Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June 2003, page 33

Talking Turkey

 

What Happens to the Israeli-Turkish Alliance Now?

 

By Andrew I. Killgore

An informal alliance between Turkey and Israel has been a fact of life in the Middle East for several years. Israel has received contracts to maintain or upgrade Turkish military equipment, and there has been talk of building pipelines to bring fresh water from Turkey to Israel.

Given Israel's harsh treatment of the Palestinians, the alliance of the two nations has not been popular with the overwhelmingly Muslim Turkish public. The arrangement was satisfactory, however, to the Turkish generals who run—or ran—Turkey, for the Israeli connection meant that a friendly U.S. would be receptive to Turkish aid requests supported by Israel.

The newly elected Turkish parliament, however, eventually turned down Washington's request to base American military forces in Turkey in order to open a northern front against Iraq. The inducement to allow U.S. forces into the country was immense: $6 billion in American cash and as much as $24 billion in loans. However, polls indicated that 95 percent—or more—of Turks did not support this scenario.

Perhaps the most outlandish example of the Turkish-Israeli (plus U.S.) alliance involves the oil pipeline from Baku, Azerbaijan to Ceyhan, Turkey. Oil companies operating in the Caspian area were opposed to this route because it would be shorter and cheaper to pass through Iran. Furthermore, Azerbaijan turned out to have only "disappointing" amounts of oil, while Baku-Ceyhan would require production of up to a million barrels a day to be economically feasible.

President Bill Clinton made a special trip to Istanbul as a witness to sign an earnest document that Baku-Ceyhan would be built. Last year, U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham traveled to Baku, where he helped lay a symbolic first section of the pipeline, and read a laudatory message from President George W. Bush.

Viewed from Washington, the Israeli-Turkish alliance shows every sign of prospering. Douglas Feith, now neo-con Zionist number three at the Pentagon, in the past has received Turkish lobbying money. The Prince of Darkness himself, Richard Perle, long has enjoyed close business relations with Turkey.

To procure Baku-Ceyhan for Turkey, Iran had to be kept out of the picture. With that intent, a Zionist media campaign began claiming that Iran was arming itself in such a manner that Western interests were threatened. It took two years to attract Bill Clinton's attention to this—which means that he wasn't convinced—but eventually he threw his support behind the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, or ILSA.

Under ILSA, anyone investing more than $20 million in Iran's oil or gas industries would suffer American sanctions. The justification was Iran's alleged support of Hezbollah, which fought Israel's occupation of south Lebanon. This was enough to earn a place on America's "supporter of terrorism" list.

Without U.S. money the Israeli-Turkish alliance wouldn't be viable—and Baku-Ceyhan will cost one to two billion from America's pocket. Will Washington continue to be willing to cough up the funds after Ankara has turned us down militarily? More importantly, the question arises as to who will run Turkey from now on: the generals or the elected parliament?

Since its large conquests of Arab land in 1967, Israel has sought an alliance with a populous non-Arab Muslim state in the Middle East to counterbalance its puny population vis-ˆ-vis the Arabs. Its first choice was Iran, whose sovereign, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, fortunately, wished to play a bigger role in the world. Iran was also a nation with plenty of oil. Consequently, Israel received lucrative contracts, not to mention secret supplies of oil, and, in return, taught SAVAK, the shah's secret police, how to be more efficient.

But a political cataclysm began in Iran in 1978. By the time it was over in February 1979, the shah had fled the country, Islamists had seized power, and Israel was forced to seek an alliance with the only other large, non-Arab Muslim nation in the Middle East. Enter Turkey.

Turkey was run by army generals who wanted more military equipment and funding from Washington. Friendship with Israel, therefore, was a perfect fit, and the relationship flourished. Now that the role of the parliament, which represents public opinion, has been strengthened, however, will Turkey still tolerate the alliance with Israel?

Andrew I. Killgore is publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

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