Turkey deploys soft power to increase regional role
Josh Landis' Syria Comment blog is essential reading not only on Syria, but also on the broader Levant or 'greater Syria' - the former Ottoman provinces whose cores were Damascus, Beirut, and Jerusalem, present-day Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories. I encourage anyone interested in the political, economic and strategic fate of this area to ... read more
“Greater Syria” and “Turkey’s slide toward Syria and Iran” by Rabinovich, Maoz, Moubayed et al.
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
The strained relations between Ankara and Jerusalem affect the balance of power in the entire region. A decade ago, Turkey was an ally of the United States and maintained varied and extensive relations with Israel. In recent years, it has been sliding toward Syria and Iran and away from America, and has become a venomous critic of Israel. If it slides any further, Turkey could become part of an Iranian-Syrian-Turkish triangle that would be a key element in Middle Eastern politics – to the detriment of Washington, Israel and the moderate Arab states.
All these confirm Turkey’s leadership in the Middle East and can be read that the country is taking a geopolitical position against Israel. All of the above countries, along with the Palestinian land today, were called the “Damascus Province” under the Ottoman dominion.
Read more at joshualandis.com
The West has remained surprisingly silent in the Israel-Turkey spat. Erdoghan has won boisterous praise in the East, and few reprimands in the West for his tough criticism of Israel. Western politicians from one end of the political spectrum to the other are silently, satisfied to see Israel’s leadership brought up short for continuing to implant its citizens in the heart of what should be a future Palestinian state, making a mockery of Western efforts to jump-start negotiations, and ignoring regional peace offers.
