[Mb-civic] Turkey's Chill Further Isolates Israel

[michael at intrafi.com]

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TURKEY'S CHILL ISOLATES ISRAEL

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Turkey's Chill Further Isolates Israel 
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Ankara's terrorist-state charge sets back a relationship that once was expanding. The change is laid in part to internal Turkish concerns.

By Henri J. Barkey
Henri J. Barkey, chairman of the international relations department at Lehigh University, was on the State Department's policy planning staff (1998-2000).

August 8 2004

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — In May, when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan characterized Israel's incursions into the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza as the actions of a terrorist state, there was no mistaking that something had gone terribly awry in Turkish-Israeli relations. Their correct but standoffish relationship began to blossom in 1996. So numerous were their military agreements and commercial deals that it appeared, certainly in the Arab world, that the two countries were entering a strategic relationship. 

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-barkey8aug08,1,1784542.story 

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