Following current reviews of Turkey arresting alleged Mossad collaborators, Maariv spoke with Dr. Eitan Hai HaCohen Yanorjak, an skilled on Turkey, who defined what triggered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to alter his rhetoric on Israel.
“Erdogan is as soon as once more going through inside political challenges in Turkey, and the simplest strategy to attraction to voters is to assault Israel in opposition to the backdrop of the struggle in Gaza,” said Dr. Eitan Hai HaCohen Yanorjak, an skilled on Turkey from the Dayan Middle at Tel Aviv College.
On the finish of March, Turkey will maintain elections for native authorities, and Erdogan should obtain victory in Istanbul and Ankara,” Yanorjak defined, “If he wins, he will likely be eligible to obtain funds from the state treasury and thus finance his social gathering actions. In addition to, because the struggle in Gaza wages, Erdogan can play up solidarity with the Palestinian trigger and acquire public assist. We additionally see this within the Mossad affair, which has been an ongoing phenomenon for greater than three years, the place now and again, we see Turkish authorities reporting that they’ve arrested “Mossad collaborators.”
Why does the native Turk care about Israel when there are different native points on the agenda, comparable to property taxes and training?
“The purpose is that you’re pondering from the Israeli perspective that native and state elections don’t converge, that native elections are thought-about a sort of vote of confidence. So long as Erdogan achieves a victory in Istanbul and Ankara, he’ll be capable of strengthen his place in the direction of the world, and he can ship a message inside Turkey that, for instance, he can defeat the mayor of Istanbul, who will possible turn into a possible candidate in opposition to Erdogan.
“Actually, he’s very prone to problem Erdogan, so even within the native context, there may be deep consideration for nationwide elections.”
In your expertise, Mossad affairs normally make a splash within the media and finish in an anticlimactic method. Will this time be any completely different?
“In earlier circumstances, we noticed many detainees; although many have been launched, about 80% are nonetheless behind bars. To this present day, Israel doesn’t settle for any duty, nevertheless it has been mentioned that Israel hires corporations of native detectives and prompts them in small, one-off issues.”
How free and honest are the elections in Turkey?
“I feel they’re free. The overall elections ended with a victory solely after a second spherical, however the campaigns of the opposition in opposition to the federal government weren’t the identical. Erdogan makes use of all the infrastructure of the Turkish state to his benefit and doesn’t enable the Turkish opposition to an equal marketing campaign, comparable to by limiting them within the established media and tv.”
Not way back, Erdogan wished heat relations with Israel. What occurred?
“Erdogan was raised and educated by an Islamic system. We will see how this upbringing influences him now, as we see a international coverage that’s ideological moderately than pragmatic.
“That’s the reason his speeches to parliament have been very pro-Hamas, which closed doorways to Israel. Consequently, Erdogan won’t function meditator within the struggle.”
And what’s taking place now to the Turkish financial system?
“The lira continues to tumble and hurt the Turkish financial system. Erdogan nonetheless wants international funding, and made a transfer in opposition to Israel as a result of he can not ideologically afford to do in any other case, and has basically ended normalized relations with Israel.”
