Quote:
Originally Posted by Mohoender
I agree because if it goes out of hand after that, Turkey would be the aggressor. Still, I'm fairly convinced that they will find a solution. In fact, back to RL for a sec, I wouldn't be surprised to have both countries finding an agreement in which Turkey could be allowed to supply Gaza in retrun for a combined checking of cargos by Turkish and Israeli authorities working together.
|
That would work if Turkey had any reason to be cooperative about things, which they aren't. When the first flotilla was scheduled to head down, Israel offered to offload the ships and deliver them under total supervision of the flotilla organizers - on Israel's dime - and was turned down flat. Even the UN - hardly one to admit Israel was right about anything - said pretty much that they made every effort to prevent what happened from happening, and that the organizers and Turkey was more interested in scoring points than what they was supposed to be there to do.
Modern Turkey isn't the Turkey of a decade ago, or even the previous. Back then it was a modern country with a very west leaning point of view, and who saw no reason not to work with Israel. They called it the 'No Problems" approach. However, fundamentalist sects finally got their act together, and started to organize. Credit being due, these sorts of fundamentalists are remarkably realistic. They know they can't draw Turkey into the 'Mad Mullah' sort of country that Iran is, but they like what they see in it. They also see that there is far too many advantages to keeping its western ties rather then cutting them off as they would like. But what they can do is turn Turkey back to what they on the whole would wish they was: The old Ottoman Empire. As these sorts see it, the middle east is a place where they should have a strong leadership role, and they are not afraid to toss the old No Problems approach out the window. And the examples of the Arab Spring isn't lost on them either. By taking the tack that they have, they got out in front of it, and by various legal and extra-legal means, hammered down the secularist factions in Turkey to impotence. By pushing for hostility towards Israel, they have gotten a massive swell of approval from the masses outside of Turkey, and by reassuring the Turkish population that they remain aligned to the west by public statements (but not private actions) they have kept what support in country that they have developed.