BY UMIT OZDAG
AKSAM)- With this week’s visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Israel, the relations between the two countries seem to be developing with each passing day. The visit of Erdogan to Israel, after the visit of Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to the same country back in January, indicates that both countries are trying to overcome the crisis in their relations. It can be even said that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government is getting ready for strategic and steady relations with Israel.
The development of relations between the countries which started in 1993 with the visit of then Foreign Minister Hikmet Cetin to Israel gained a new dimension with the agreement on Security and Confidence signed in 1994. Ankara, seeing that Syria, Iran and Greece were supporting the terrorist PKK, developed a cooperation policy with Tel Aviv.
As for Israel’s benefits, it started gathering information about Syria and Iran and in addition, gained strategic depth in the Middle East. The side which profited more from economic cooperation has also been Israel.
After Turkey changed its Iraq policy, the reasons behind the crisis in Turkish-Israeli relations was swept away.
In short, it seems that Erdogan’s visit to Israel has been very fruitful.