Ayoon wa Azan (Palestine is a Turkish priority)

The Palestinian issue is the most important foreign policy issue for Turkey. I was part of a group of Arab journalists and researchers who visited Ankara and Istanbul, where we heard from pillars of the government, members of Parliament, and those in research and study centers that the Palestine issue is a top priority. Yesterday, I outlined the Turkish stance on Syria, while today I will mention excerpts of what I heard about Palestine and Israel, because there is much to choose from. -Israel's occupation is the most important Turkish foreign policy issue. Turkey’s ties with Israel will not improve as long as this occupation remains, and we do not expect that things will go back to the way they were in the recent past. -There will be no new weapons deals with Israel. Perhaps we will see the implementation of older agreements, concluded by the military and politicians whose role has ended; they have either retired, or are in prison. -During the Cold War, relations with Israel were sponsored by the United States, which prevented Turkey from developing its relations with Arab states. The end of the Cold War has given more freedom to Turkish foreign policy in dealing with neighboring countries. -Eight weeks ago, Benjamin Netanyahu issued an apology for attacking, in international waters, the Mavi Marmara peace flotilla on 31 May 2010. It was a very painful incident. The ship was carrying hundreds of peace activists, who were attacked in an incident of Israeli piracy, which killed and wounded people. -Turkey downgraded its level of diplomatic representation in Israel after the incident, and withdrew its ambassador, as did Israel. -From the beginning, our stance was clear. First, Israel should apologize, which it did for the first time in its history. Second, it should pay compensation, and the first meeting on this issue produced no results. There will be another meeting, perhaps at the end of this month. Third, Israel should lift the blockade on Gaza, which is suffering from a lack of foodstuffs and medicine (I heard that Israel offered $100,000 for every person who was killed, while Turkey is asking for $1 million each). -US Secretary of State John Kerry asked that Erdogan change his scheduled visit to the Gaza Strip, and we refused. We insist on our third condition, namely lifting the blockade, and we will not send an ambassador to Israel before this happens. -We cannot embark on any project with Israel, or conclude an agreement with Israel, without informing the Arabs and agreeing with them on such a move beforehand. We are working on encouraging investors to go to the occupied Palestinian territories. -As for Israel and its policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians and Arab and Muslim states, they are breaking bridges, while we are building them. -To be perfectly frank, Turkey’s ties with Israel will not improve as long as the occupation continues. -We give assistance to newly-independent states in Central Asia, and we have branches to deliver this aid in 31 countries, and projects in 110 nations. We are very concerned with helping the Palestinians, such as by building a 200-bed hospital in Gaza, and a similar facility in Tubas and also in Hebron. -Our stance is that we want a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital. We will help this state, just as we help 1.5 million Palestinians in their original homeland, under Israel rule. I would like to conclude with some quick observations of my own. The Islamists who came to office in 2002 had their eyes wide open, and they could get things done. Meanwhile, Islamists in Arab countries are full of words, and all they can do is talk. The Palestinians are supported with speeches, followed by actions that are not useful, but rather are harmful. My hope is that the blind among us learn a lesson from the Islamist Turks, who in one decade turned their country into the only superpower in the Middle East. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.