Alwaght | News & Analysis Website

Alwaght- When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stood before parliament to deliver his last speech as prime minister, he was wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh (scarf) in solidarity with the Palestinians who were being massacred under the July 2014 Israeli aggression against Gaza. He even vowed that the Turks will defend Palestine at any cost. Yet this all seems a moment of the past, empty promises that cannot be seen in Turkey’s present arrangements that may be leaving the Palestinians out of the calculations.
Leaving the past in the past
This “any cost” seems to exempt the economical-political price Turkey has to pay in order to side with the Palestinians. One cannot side with the oppressed while shaking the hand of the oppressor and this is what Ankara is attempting to get away with.
Erdogan has long been critical of the Israeli regime. But in 2010 Turkish-Israeli relations took a downturn after Israeli commandos killed 9 Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American aboard the Mavi Marmara flotilla which was carrying humanitarian aid for Palestinians in a bid to break an Israeli maritime siege on the impoverished strip.
Now Tel Aviv and Ankara appear to be putting the past behind them and opening new doors that may lead to the revival of diplomatic relations. Officials from both sides, earlier this month, confirmed this after the two US allies in the region held secret talks in Switzerland which have also suggested that the Israelis might export natural gas to the Turks.
Overcoming these rifts can be traced back to Ankara’s conflict with Moscow after the first downed a Russian fighter jet carrying out airstrikes on ISIS over Syria’s air space and the latter responded with a wave of sanctions and economic slaps.
The mishap with Russia
The British Telegraph has said that more than half of Turkey’s gas and 10 percent of its oil are obtained from Russia. To be more precise, it accounted for nearly 60% of Turkey’s gas imports in 2013.
With the Russo-Turkish ties falling out against the backdrop of the Syrian crisis, which threatened Turkey’s main gas supplier - although up till now it has not been cut - Ankara is on the lookout for a new regional source of natural gas. Erdogan apparently thought the time has come for Turkey to make amends with the Israeli regime.
This in turn shows that Turkey is scared of the power President Vladimir Putin holds with his hand around the gas spigot that can turn off the flow the time he sees fit.

Palestine Forgotten
But where's the Palestine that Erdogan has repeatedly defended in his rhetoric?
Erdogan told journalists a few weeks ago that “Turkish-Israeli rapprochement is vital for the region” adding that normalizing ties would be “to the benefit of the whole region.”
While Erdogan claimed that lifting the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza would be one of the preconditions of a deal, the key points of a framework agreement published by the Israeli Daily Haaretz did not include such a far-fetched demand which Ankara is, of course, conscious of.
There is no doubt that Erdogan is playing it smart. In order to appease public opinion and maintain his domestic agenda, which includes transitioning to a presidential system, he is forced to keep Gaza’s cause high on the list. That’s why he cannot be remembered as the authority that sold out Gaza for gas from the Israelis.
Normalizing relations between Turkey and the Israeli regime may have a deeper effect than the two sides are willing to deal with. This is seen in the stalemate over the Gaza condition, under which both sides know that the Israelis, will not compromise its suffocation of the strip and the resistance there for the sake of becoming friends with Turkey. Instead, both apparently think it would suffice to venture into thawing economic and trade ties without actually resolving disputes, at least not publicly.
For now, the deal is still a prospect. If they end up signing an agreement, Turkey will be more cornered than ever with billions of dollars being spent on the project. Yet, these billions of dollars seem a fair price for Erdogan who might be selling Gaza for an alternative energy source, albeit under the counter.