Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next month in a bid to improve relations between the two countries, Bloomberg reported on Friday citing Israeli sources. Erdogan wants Netanyahu to sign on to a long-debated natural gas pipeline from off-shore Israeli and Egyptian gas fields to Turkey. What does Netanyahu want? Can these eternal frenemies put aside their ideological differences and cooperate on this mega-project?
The talks between the two may revolve around potentially exporting natural gas from a field off Gaza to Europe via Turkey, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Sources added that the supply chain disruptions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have pushed the two countries to further boost ties after a decade-long breakdown in relations.
Iran’s activities in the region have also worried Turkey and Israel – especially Tehran’s growing influence in Syria, the report added. Ankara and Tel Aviv also have shared interests over Azerbaijan, backing its territorial claims against Armenia and sending drones to help Baku.
Israeli media reported earlier this month that Netanyahu had been seeking to arrange an official visit to Turkey and a meeting with Erdogan, highlighting that there were communications in place to arrange the visit, which was likely to happen “in the coming weeks”.
Israel and Turkey restored diplomatic relations last year and agreed to reopen embassies following years of tension after Israeli commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara ship in 2010, killing 9 Turkish citizens on board the ship.
The rupture continued until 2013, when then-US President Barack Obama pressured Netanyahu to apologise to Turkey and compensate the families of the Turkish victims who were killed in the operation.
On March 9, 2022, Israeli President Isaac Herzog made an official visit to Turkey, which was the first of its kind for a senior Israeli official in 14 years.
In 2021, Erdogan congratulated Herzog on his election as president, which marked a significant turning point in the course of Turkish-Israeli relations.
Netanyahu-Erdogan meeting: Proceed with caution
Since the rest of the world does not endorse Israel’s anguish and given the Israeli doctrine of self-reliance, this forces Israel to explore its possibilities, which also includes improved relations with Turkey whose location and relations with the Sunni and Shiite world are all critical. However, President Erdogan sets preconditions for the meeting, writes Stella Gerani.
Domestic and external imperatives in both countries are the driving force for this new reconciliation effort. Netanyahu faces well-known challenges both domestically and externally that are equally existential for the Jewish State. Domestic instability affects the morale both of the prime minister himself, given the trial that he faces, and the state, since rallies against the judicial reforms jeopardize domestic cohesion amidst severe Iranian threats. The danger of Iran reaching 90% purity in uranium enrichment finds Israel pushing its allies and the international community in general for a solution that will dissolute once and for all the nuclear aspirations of the ayatollahs.
Erdogan demands as a prerequisite from Netanyahu to deliver to the Sultan news on gas cooperation between the two countries.
Netanyahu, the longest sitting prime minister with unique leadership skills should skillfully handle the situation in the deep waters of the East Mediterranean. After all, he is aware of the footprints of the culprit all over the land of Judea: It takes a walk around eastern Jerusalem to witness the established presence of Turkish entity. Bearing the sign of AKP (the Turkish ruling party) and a portrait of Sultan Erdogan in shops, one such entity not only advertises its activities as the benefactor in Jerusalem but also puts an effort to “ease the hardships as a result of Israel’s ongoing policy of Judaization”, as they put it in their official site.
On the domestic front, Erdogan has officially embraced a terror group that became Erdoğan’s most recent political ally. Finally, the well-known fact that Erdogan openly supports Hamas and that Turkey fosters Hamas militias on its soil, does not seem to be a subject of a political change under the presidency of Erdogan, who aspires to be the leader of the Muslim worlds.
The only fact that changed which may give some hope to a more lasting thaw between Turkey and Israel is Erdogan’s desperate search for new investments and financial capital from the world. The pipeline will significantly ease Turkey’s energy bill, while Israeli friendship can translate into better relations with US Congress. That being said, Netanyahu knows best how fickle Erdogan is and will want concrete and irreversible guarantees of partnership before committing his country’s wealth to the hands of a frenemy.
Press sources, PA Turkey
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