Recently, the Jewish state signed a historic peace agreement with the United Arab Emirates, which likely will be followed by another agreement with Bahrain and perhaps a similar one with Kuwait or Oman. In the wake of this development, Shipan Kumer Basu, who heads the World Hindu Struggle Committee, stressed that some countries that are historically hostile towards Israel, such as Bangladesh, have been silent out of respect for their positive relationship with the UAE. He added that other anti-Israel Muslim countries like Pakistan have decided to reserve their judgment and to see “how Palestinian rights and aspirations will be upheld.” However, he noted that Iran has strongly come out against this peace agreement with the UAE and Turkey even threatened to sever diplomatic relations with Abu Dhabi over it.
The question remains, has Erdogan completely lost his marbles?
Although Iranian opposition is to be expected, as the mullah’s regime refers to Israel as the “little Satan” and routinely chants “death to Israel,” Turkey still does have diplomatic relations with Israel and has $6 billion worth of trade annually with the Jewish state, despite the tensions between the two countries since the Mavi Marmara affair. Given that, how can Turkey be upset if other Sunni Muslim countries in the Persian Gulf also would like to similarly benefit from having a relationship with the Jewish state? How can he consider it to be a “stab in the back” to the Palestinians?
In an exclusive interview, Former Israel Consul General to Istanbul Eli Shaked stated: “They are going crazy. We are dealing with a dictator that has extremely high political and military ambitions in the whole Middle East. The problem is that it is not only his character but his religious ideology, which is part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement that started in Jordan and went into Jordan, Gaza, etc. The combination between an ambitious president and his militant religious ideology brings Turkey into a conflict with all its neighbors including Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, the US, NATO, the EU, and Russia. So, it is a very wide range of conflict in which Turkey is isolating itself from most of the rest of the world.”
Indeed, since the pandemic began, Erdogan has taken a series of controversial moves. Amid the pandemic, Erdogan’s government completed the submersion of the ancient over 10,000-year-old city of Hasankeyf, a UNESCO world heritage site, underwater to build a dam. According to the Smithsonian Museum, “Hasankeyf and its surrounding limestone cliffs were home to thousands of human-made caves, 300 medieval monuments and a unique canyon ecosystem—all combining to create a beguiling open-air museum.” However, Erdogan did not care about any of that, for the city was mainly populated by Kurds and was rich in Armenian history, so he destroyed it.
In a similarly outrageous move, the Hagia Sophia, another UNESCO world heritage site, was transformed into a mosque amid the pandemic. During the Muslim prayers, all the ancient Byzantine artwork is now covered up. This was followed by vows by Erdogan to “liberate Al Aqsa.” Bartu Eken, a writer and editor for Strateji Kortak, a Turkish publication on international affairs, proclaimed: “Turkey’s decision to re-open worship for Muslims at the Hagia Sophia is a clear message, both to other countries and to the Kemalists. To me, the government is aiming to resurrect the Ottoman Empire. It is also aiming to gain votes after the loss of the big cities in the municipal elections.”
And to add insult to injury, Turkey is mulling pulling out of the Istanbul Agreement on women’s rights, at a time when domestic violence is at an all-time high worldwide due to the pandemic. According to Turkish journalist Rafael Sadi, “Unfortunately, violence against women is increasing by the day in Turkey and there is not a single day where we do not see that women were murdered on the news.” Eken concurred, “Violence against women in Turkey, unfortunately, is a fact. Verbal abuse, physical abuse or rape is a reality in Turkey. While the patriarchal society glorifies men, it keeps women a little bit more secondary. Of course, the whole society is not like that. However, these types of situations are common. Considering that “social gender” expression in the Istanbul Agreement rejects biological sex, the idea has emerged that it is against Islam. Erdogan is watching the reactions in silence. Different voices are rising within the Justice and Development Party. It is not yet possible to predict what decision will be made.”
According to Ahval, pro-government columnist Abdurrahman Dilipak, who writes for the Islamist Yeni Akit newspaper, called supporters of several international conventions against violence against women and children “prostitutes.” Turkish Jewish activist Zali De Toledo proclaimed, “The women in Turkey are furious.” The AKP’s Women’s Branch reportedly filed an official complaint against Dilipak. Similarly, 26 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and initiatives, including PEN Turkey Center, Association for Monitoring Equal Rights and the Initiative for Freedom of Expression, have released a joint statement, once again reiterating that “İstanbul Convention keeps one alive.” They proclaimed, “If the İstanbul Convention had been implemented, 163 women might not have been killed since January 2020 and 32 women might not have been killed in July 2020 by the men who were closest to them. Police violence inflicted on the women who express their demands within their Constitutional rights means making the state a party to the crime. Seek ways to implement İstanbul Convention, not to withdraw from it.”
All of this came as Erdogan engaged in provocative actions against Greece in the Mediterranean, ethnically cleansed Kurds, Christians, and Yezidis from Northern Syria, attacked Kurds in Northern Iraq and harmed Egyptian interests in the Libyan Civil War. According to Sadi, “I believe all of these actions are just part of a show and the show must keep going on. Now, another show is being staged on the Mediterranean in a war between Turkey, Greece, and Egypt. This is an incredibly old scenario and is trying to be staged again. I think nothing will happen.”
However, Shaked claimed that despite all of this, Erdogan remains popular in the peripheral areas of Turkey, even though the Turkish lira is collapsing beyond repair. Nevertheless, at the same time, he noted that this behavior has created many enemies for Turkey: “Even though Egypt and Saudi Arabia are Sunni Muslims, they consider Turkey to be an enemy. He is despised by the Western world, even Russia and the others. This is part of the strategic paradox that happened in the last ten years or so. Usually, Greece and Cyprus were very anti-Israel in the international arena and the Middle East. They were very anti-Israel for years and years.”
Indeed, historically, Greece was the arch-nemesis of Israel. In ancient times, the Maccabees fought against the Greeks, who tried to impose Hellenistic culture and religion on the Jewish people. To date, we Jews celebrate our victory over the ancient Greeks on Chanukkah. Later, the historian Paul Johnson noted the prominent role played by Greek intellectuals in turning the Roman Empire against the Jewish people. And then, under the Greek-dominated Byzantine Empire, the Jews were heavily persecuted. Jews were barred from building new synagogues and holding public office. Starting under Emperor Justinian, Jews could not even read the Torah or any book for that matter in Hebrew and existing synagogues were converted into churches. Under Heraclius, Jews were forcefully converted to Christianity.
And then, under the Ottomans, there was much tension between the Greek and Jewish communities, as illustrated by the 1840 Rhodes Blood Libel, the numerous massacres against Jews during the Greek War of Independence and the eviction of many Jews from Salonika after the Great Fire. Later, the University of Salonika would be built on top of the Old Jewish Cemetery and ancient Jewish tombstones would be utilized to rebuild Orthodox churches that were damaged during World War II. This inherent historic hostility to Jews among Greeks is what led to a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel foreign policy for years in Greece, alongside the Neo-Nazis Golden Dawn Party playing an influential role in Greek politics until relatively recently.
And then, all of this changed.
Now, Greek Jewish survivors of the Holocaust can reclaim their Greek citizenship, a new Holocaust memorial was built in Salonika, the Golden Dawn Party leadership was overthrown, and remembering the Holocaust became a pivotal part of the Greek educational system. At the same time, Israel and Greece improved their diplomatic relations, with the development of the Eastern Mediterranean Pipeline. And with the initiation of the coronavirus, Greece is one of the few countries that Israelis can presently travel to.
Indeed, Greece went from being an ancient enemy to a strategic friend of the State of Israel. It appears that the suffering that Greeks have experienced in the past taught them the importance of overcoming their own history and building a more tolerant society, which seeks to build partnerships with those that share their values.
As a fellow democracy in the Mediterranean, Israel and Greece today have many shared values based on past intellectual achievements, possessing an ancient civilization, promoting tourism, similar music, and alike cultural mindset, etc. However, until relatively recently, these shared values were not enough to bring the two countries together.
“Erdogan created this paradox that brought Greece, Cyprus and Israel into a strategic, economic, and political alliance that includes Italy and Egypt against Turkey,” Shaked declared. “Thanks to him, they are now one camp that has a big strategic interest, and this goes against the obvious interests of Turkey. So, Erdogan has his ambitions, but what he is creating with his logic is a large anti-Turkish camp in Israel, Europe and Moscow that makes Turkey isolated as never before in its history.” According to him, Turkey today has no friends except for Qatar, the government Erdogan is propping up in Libya and maybe Pakistan: “But Pakistan does not really help Turkey. They might like Erdogan, but they do not invest in Turkey nor push forward the interests of Turkey. Maybe they express verbally their sympathy with Turkey, but not more than that.”
Thus, Erdogan’s madness has caused Turkey to become a major loser.