Pyotr Lukimson. Exclusively to VK
Ankara shifted to new tactics in its media war, trying to make Israel implement Turkish conditions. Israeli politicians share this view. The tactics means attraction of the Islamic world and the international society to any events in Israel, which might be recognized as insulting of Islamic and Christian shrines. Thus, Turkey tries to ruin Israel’s image of a democratic state which follows rights of all ethnic groups and confessions living in its territory.
On September 11 the Foreign Ministry of Turkey published an irate note on violation of Latroun Silentiary Monastery situated near Jerusalem. They meant the accident happened on September 5. Unknown criminals set the door of the monastery on fire and wrote insulting texts on its walls, including insulting of Jesus Christ. The police of the country formed a special office on struggle against such crimes. The fact that Turkey urged Israel “to find and punish the guilty” a week after the accident seems strange to the Israeli side.
Last week Turkey claimed that holding the wine festival in Beersheba near a mosque (which was built in the late 19th century by the Ottoman government; now it doesn’t function as a mosque, as it is the Bedouin Culture and Ethnography Museum) is an insult of religious feelings of Muslims. Even though these claims were rather odd (the festival is traditional and is held annually for many years; nobody has ever stated it violates the former mosque), the president of Israel Shimon Peres asked to make the wine festival in Beersheba… sober.
However, after the note against the vandal attack in Latroun it became clear it is a system: Turkey is searching for any reason for besmirching Israel in the international society’s eyes.
The power structures of Israel say that Ankara is playing with matches: if Israel used the same tactics, Ankara would find itself in much less beneficial situation. At the same time, there are no details on possible responses.
Some Israeli observers see connection between recent claims by Turkey and its disappointment by the visit of the CIA head David Petreus to the region. Last week Petreus and senators Joe Lieberman and Joe McCain visited Turkey. The international mass media reported that Petreus left Istanbul and headed to Jerusalem where he would try to convince Israel to meet Ankara halfway, bring apologies and normalize relations with Turkey. However, later there were no reports on the visit to Israel by Petreus.
At the same time, some Turkish and Israeli periodicals state that Petreus visited Israel, but it was top-secret. The main themes were the coordination between the CIA and Israeli and Turkish intelligence services and the Iranian problem. If Petreus tried to make peace between Turkey and Israel, he failed.
