BAŞBUG-ASHKENAZI MEETING

Turkish Armed Forces (TAF)Chief of Staff General İlker Başbuğ and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt-General Gabi Ashkenazi met Wednesday.

Yaakov Katz, "Ashkenazi meets Turkish counterpart", The Jerusalem Post, January 27, 2010.
http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=166997



The meeting was very significant. Tension between two countries was very high for last 1 year. The problem started with Turkish PM's "one minute" challenge in Davos Summit. (January 2009) His anger intensified to David Ignatius who was the chair of the session. However his real target was Israeli president Shimon Peres. Peres defended Operation Cast Lead. The operation was fresh. Turkish PM accused him as "you know how to kill people.."
October 2009 was an another step to deepen the crisis. Turkish cancellation to Israel's attendance about Anatolian Eagle drill converted the crisis especially to "defense level". Serie of Farewell which was broadcasted in state run TV (TRT), showed Israeli soldiers as baby killers.
Despite the events, Israeli minister Ben Eliezer visited Turkish embassy about Turkish Republic Day reception in Tel Aviv. After he came Turkey in November 2009 and the next month (December 2009) Turkish-Israeli presidents met in Copenhag. As it is known, there was a climate summit in Copenhag. Peres repeated his invitation to Turkish president.
Ayalon's humiliation to Turkish ambassador in January 11, 2010 was related the serie of Valley of the Wolves Ambush. After he apologized from Turkish state and people.
His attitude was commented to prevent Israeli defense minister Barak's visit to Turkey. In spite of the tension, Barak came to Turkey in January 17, 2010. He has made consultations with Turkish FM Davutoğlu. The conversation continued for 3.5 hours. After he met Turkish defense minister Gönül. The meeting was about 1 hour. Turkish ambassador to Israel who was humilitated by Ayalon Oğuz Çelikkol attended the gatherings. Barak behaved closer to the ambassador. And he has described the relations as "strategic alliance". (We have evaulated before) It was the highest level for bilateral relations. But we are not sure, Turkish defence minister's announcement reflect the real situation or not?
Turkish-Israeli generals session in January 27, 2010 must be underlined. Two chief of staffs was in Brussels for participating "NATO military chiefs" summit. Israel is a not a member of NATO, but Israel was invitated to the gathering. Common agenda of Israel and NATO seems to struggle with "global terrorist threat".
In this case, Turkey-Israel has a rich infrastructure. Two countries signed Peripheral Pact in 1958. Their cooperation sustains especially military-defense and intelligence level. Turkey and Israel reinforced military cooperation with 1996 and 1997 treaties and also added economic cooperation.
Global terrorist threat headline is very important for NATO countries. Two generals approach is also a part of amendment effort like as Turkish-Israeli presidents' meeting in Copenhag and also Ben Eliezer's, Barak's Turkey visits.
Tangibly military cooperation is strategic for both of them. The other point bilateral cooperation is also Western axis' extension. Turkish-Israeli alignment is so important for US. And supported effectively. US blocks the crisis to reach further steps.
The critical question is NATO's potential approach to Hizballah and Hamas. In this context, Turkish cabinet's pro Islamic attitude to be problematic or to conform the general tendency?
We will see....