BY SEMIH IDIZ
MILLIYET)- Speaking in an interview with Milliyet, Israeli Ambassador to Ankara Pinhas Avivi pointed to an interesting irony: Although most people consider 2004 to have been the tensest year in Turkish-Israeli relations, it was in fact the year in which economic relations between the two countries reached their highest level.
Avivi said that the trade volume between Turkey and Israel exceeded $2 billion last year, a figure twice as big as the volume of trade between Turkey and Russia. He noted that defense industry expenditures and revenue from Israeli tourists aren’t even included in this amount.
It’s clear that Turkish-Israeli relations have improved significantly over the last few years. By the way, the assertion that our relations with Israel are based solely on military interests is no longer valid, because our mutual interests have gone beyond military purposes. In brief, we can’t break off our ties with Israel simply due to political unrest.
While the Islamic press in Turkey has criticized Erdogan’s recent visit to Israel, the Palestinians are pleased. According to the Israeli press, the political unrest between Turkey and Israel has been left behind with Erdogan’s visit to Israel. Here in Israel, everybody is talking about the warm and friendly conversation on the phone between Erdogan and Sharon on April 15, which is believed to have melted the ice.
On the other hand, Israeli officials acknowledge that Turkey may not yet be capable of playing such a great role as a negotiator on the Middle East issue. Ankara’s offer sounds tempting, but neither the time nor the conditions are right for this.