There may be an unanticipated casualty of the failed coup by Turkish military putschists who seem to have had in their weapons sights everybody in Turkey—except President Erdogan.
Erdogan’s counter-coup, which has already swept up thousands military types, government bureaucrats, police, and even judges, has singled out former air force commander Akin Ozturk, who was the Turkish Military attaché to Israel between 1996 and 1998. Suspected of being the coup leader, Ozturk, commanded the Turkish Air Force between 2013 and 2015, and is accused of associations with Fethullah Gulen, the reclusive Turkish exile imam living in Pennsylvania who once was a Erdogan ally but now is a bitter opponent. Among Gulen’s sins in the eyes of some of the Erdoganites: preaching a relatively tolerant brand of Islam sympathetic to Jews and Israel.
A story in Haaretz has implicitly criticized the Netanyahu government for waiting a few hours, unlike the U.S. government, before condemning the Turkish coup. Yet the cautious Israeli response was friendly to Erdogan compared to Egypt which haggled to change the wording of a UN Security Council resolution from support for “democratic elections in Turkey” to support of “democratic principles”—without any implied approval of the autocratic Erdogan’s dubious electoral victories.
Turkey’s shell-shocked Parliament is scheduled to vote next week on the an Israeli-Turkish reconciliation agreement and pass a law annulling claims against Israeli officers and soldiers who were involved in the takeover of the so-called Gaza Mavi Marmara “freedom flotilla” in May, 2010. In return, Israel has agreed to pay Turkey $20 million in compensation.
Will Erdogan use the coup as an excuse to deep six his deal with Israel and launch a new anti-Israel jihad like that he pursued starting in 2010? Don’t be surprised if he does. In the Middle East, history is written in blood, and peace agreements disappear with the shifting sands.
