Congressmen Talk Turkey
Ariel Cohen /
At a Washington, DC, press conference held by Members of Congress in support of Israel, Turkey received its taste of changing attitudes on Capitol Hill after sponsoring a flotilla to breach Israel’s blockade of the terrorist organization Hamas-run Gaza strip.
Congressmen warned that Turkey’s break from its traditionally warm relations with Israel in exchange for cozying up with the United States’ public enemy number one – Iran – could result in a chill in its relations with the American government, according to The Jerusalem Post.
At the same time, Turkey pulled out all the stops in its diplomatic and media attacks on Israel, recalling their ambassador, reducing their diplomatic representation, freezing the implementation of past Turco-Israeli economic agreements, and placing an embargo on Israeli weapons – all of which took a serious toll on Turkey’s most reliable partner in the Middle East. Turkey-Israel relations, warm and cozy until the Islamist AK Party came to power in 2002, are now in their terminal stage.