Some Western countries attribute the apparent eastward realignment of Turkish foreign policy in recent years to the Islamist roots of Mr Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) party. This week’s Turkish vote in the UN Security Council against sanctions on Iran for its nuclear programme has reinforced this view. Some fear the West has “lost” Turkey (a view echoed this week by Robert Gates, the American defence secretary, who blamed the European Union for not doing more to encourage Turkish membership).
The Mavi Marmara incident is seen as further proof of such a Turkish shift. Critics claim Turkey could have done more to stop the flotilla. Turkey’s protests that it could not interfere with an initiative of a non-governmental organisation ring hollow. The authorities have often cited “security concerns” to stop Kurdish campaigners (and Turkish troops harass stone-throwing Kurdish youths as much as the Israelis do Palestinians). As for AK’s claims that it was not involved, what about the presence of Murat Mercan, an AK deputy, on board an earlier land convoy to Gaza?
The Mavi Marmara incident is seen as further proof of such a Turkish shift. Critics claim Turkey could have done more to stop the flotilla. Turkey’s protests that it could not interfere with an initiative of a non-governmental organisation ring hollow. The authorities have often cited “security concerns” to stop Kurdish campaigners (and Turkish troops harass stone-throwing Kurdish youths as much as the Israelis do Palestinians). As for AK’s claims that it was not involved, what about the presence of Murat Mercan, an AK deputy, on board an earlier land convoy to Gaza?
