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Sun, Dec 12, 2010 | The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

A Turkish firefighting plane drops fire extinguishing material over the wildfire on December 4, 2010 in Ein Hod, Israel. The text on the plane reads: Türk Hava Kurumu (Turkish Air Agency) and Orman Genel Müdürlüğü (Turkish General Directorate of Forestry) which is a sub-division of the Ministry of the Environment and Forestry (Çevre ve Orman Bakanlığı). (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Iran Criticizes Turkey’s Aid In Extinguishing Forest Fire In Israel’s North

In recent days, Iranian media has been reporting on the Turkish aid in extinguishing the fire in the north of Israel, and on Israel’s attempts to take advantage of Turkey’s humanitarian aid to rebuild the relations between the two countries.

The conservative daily Jomhuri-ye Eslami did not settle for an informative account of the Turkish aid and published an editorial which strongly criticized the assistance extended by Turkey to Israel. According to the daily, the Turkish assistance to Israel is proof that, being a member of NATO, Turkey is unable to deviate from the strategy of that organization, which is committed to support Israel. Even if the anti-Israeli views expressed by Turkish PM Erdogan in recent months were not just a publicity effort to obtain the support of Muslim public opinion in Turkey and elsewhere, they still reflected only his own personal opinion. Those views cannot be translated into reality due to the Turkish secular regime’s overall commitment to the West.

Turkey’s demand for an official Israeli apology following the attack on the Turkish ship and for bringing those responsible for the attack to justice reflects, according to the daily, Erdogan’s personal preferences rather than his stance as head of state. Being the prime minister, he is under obligation to follow a policy that takes into account his country’s dependency on NATO and on Turkey’s military leaders.

Jomhuri-ye Eslami further claimed that Turkish-Israeli relations have deep historic roots. The economic and security relations between the two countries have continued in recent years in the shadow of the crimes committed by the “Zionist regime” against Muslims in Lebanon and Gaza, and even the new Islamic tendencies in Turkey have been unable to lead to any significant change in those relations.

Logo of Türk Hava Kurumu, also visible on the plane

American influence on Turkish diplomacy is so considerable that even an Islamist government cannot make decisions without taking it into consideration. That weakness of Turkey is particularly evident, for example, in the government’s inability to assert its position that women should be allowed to wear headdresses in universities.

Turkey’s armed forces still enjoy tremendous influence in politics, society, economy, and culture, an influence that is also evident in the ongoing strategic relations with Israel.

It is unfortunate, Jomhuri-ye Eslami concluded, that Erdogan’s government was willing to sacrifice its anti-Zionist stance in favor of U.S. policy and the secular generals’ interests (Jomhuri-ye Eslami, December 7).