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Diplomats the world over blinked in disbelief on Tuesday, July 13, when the news broke that the previous evening Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had phoned Israels newly elected president, Isaac Herzog, to offer his congratulations.

The surprise was all the greater when it emerged that the call between the two presidents had lasted 40 minutes.

His ire was especially roused by Israels incursion into Gaza in 2008 in its effort to stop Hamas firing rockets indiscriminately into the country. It culminated in his venomous attack on then-president Shimon Peres at the Davos conference in January 2009.

The Mavi Marmara affair in 2010 categorized by Erdogan as an armed Israeli attack on a humanitarian convoy, but about which much remains to be explained soured relations between Turkey and Israel for six years.

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Diplomatic ties were restored only in 2016. Two years later, in 2018, when the US recognized Jerusalem as Israels capital and moved its embassy there from Tel Aviv, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel, and Israel followed suit.

The landmark Abraham Accords were perceived by Turkey as an overwhelmingly negative development. Erdogan condemned the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for abandoning the Palestinian cause and threatened to suspend diplomatic ties, although he never quite got round to doing so.

Thirteen years of sour Turco-Israeli relations and yet trade between the two nations grew exponentially over the period, quite regardless of the political dissensions. In 2008 bilateral trade between Turkey and Israel stood at $3.4 billion. Year-on-year expansion followed, and by 2020 it had doubled to a record $6.8b.

Moreover the 13 lean years arose on the foundation of 50 years of friendship, cooperation and flourishing trade. In March 1949 Turkey was the first Muslim country to recognize the State of Israel. Cooperation grew between the two nations. Over the years trade and tourism boomed. Before the end of the century the Israel Air Force was practicing maneuvers in Turkish airspace, and Israeli technicians were modernizing Turkish combat jets. Projects involving collaboration in hi-tech and in water sharing were developed.

In May 2005 Erdogan, then prime minister, paid an official visit to Israel. In November 2007, four months after being elected president, Peres visited Turkey for three days and addressed its Grand National Assembly perhaps the high point in Turco-Israeli relations. They then unraveled pretty swiftly.

BY THE fall of 2020 Turkeys international standing was in the doldrums. The US presidential election was in full swing. US president Donald Trump may have turned a blind eye to Erdogans anti-Kurd land grab in northern Syria, but Joe Biden had expressed his sympathy for the Kurds. Even Trump had drawn the line at Turkey, a member of NATO, acquiring the USs state-of-the-art multipurpose F-35 fighter aircraft, while already purchasing the Russian S-400 antiaircraft system designed specifically to destroy aircraft like the F-35. Trump ejected him from the F-35 program and imposed sanctions. Biden, long opposed to Erdogans power-grabbing activities in Syria, would certainly not reverse that.

Neither Trump nor Biden favored Erdogans military interventions in Libya or in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, both pretty obviously designed to extend Turkish influence in the region.

Erdogan had also attracted the displeasure of the European Union by continuing to explore for gas in what is internationally recognized as Cypriot waters. After months of acrimonious exchanges, in December 2020 the EU actually imposed targeted sanctions on Turkey.

Turkeys relations with Egypt had been frozen solid ever since 2013, when Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who was affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, was ousted by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Erdogan, a lifelong adherent of the Brotherhood, expelled Egypts ambassador, and Sisi reciprocated.

Erdogan and his advisers must have realized that a reassessment of tactics was called for, if he was to achieve his strategic objective of extending and stabilizing Turkeys power base across the Middle East. Out of what must have been a root and branch analysis came a plan to address the problem Turkey would embark on a charm offensive, involving an apparent rebooting of relationships with onetime enemies, opponents or unfriendly states, including Israel.

On December 9, 2020, after a gap of two years, Turkey appointed an ambassador to Israel, albeit one with a track record of anti-Israel sentiment. Then, in a press conference on Christmas Day, Erdogan declared that Turkeys intelligence relations with Israel had not stopped; they continue, and that our heart desires that we can move our relations with them to a better point.

Israel treated the developments warily. The media reported that at a meeting held on December 30, then-foreign minister Gabi Ashkenazi decided to send quiet feelers to Ankara to assess how much weight to attach to them. It is difficult also to determine whether there is any truth in media rumors that the Turkish intelligence service had been holding secret talks with Israeli officials about normalizing relations.

Then came the Erdogan-Herzog phone conversation. It occurred, commented the Atlantic Council, against a backdrop of a notable decrease in Turkey of the anti-Israel rhetoric usually spouted by the states elites, feeding conspiracy theories and antisemitism. Additionally, the Atlantic Council has noted the recent appearance of many news articles supporting the need for reconciliation. These are important signs, it comments, that create a positive atmosphere, similar to the one that existed around the time of the 2016 normalization deal [following the Mavi Marmara affair].

Official accounts of the presidential conversation report the leaders agreeing on the importance of ties between Israel and Turkey, and the great potential for cooperation in many fields, in particular energy, tourism and technology. They agreed also to maintain contact and ongoing dialogue despite differences of opinion, with the goal of making positive steps toward a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which will also contribute to the improvement of Israeli-Turkish relations.

Is this the renewal of a beautiful Turco-Israeli friendship, or an astute move by Erdogan to further his political ambitions?

It could be both. To reap the potential benefits and sidestep the potential hazards, Israel will need to proceed with caution.

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Turkey and Israel are we to be friends? - opinion - The Jerusalem Post

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during an action plan meeting to prevent violence against women, in Ankara, Turkey July 1, 2021. Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

ISTANBUL, July 19 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the Taliban should "end the occupation of their brothers' soil", and played down a warning from the militant group of consequences if Turkish troops remain in Afghanistan to run Kabul airport.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001 and have fought for 20 years to topple the Western-backed government in Kabul and reimpose Islamic rule. They are making a fresh push now to gain territory as foreign forces pull out.

"(The Taliban) need to end the occupation of their brothers' soil and show the world that peace is prevailing in Afghanistan right away," Erdogan told reporters before leaving for a trip to northern Cyprus.

He said the Taliban's approach was not the way that Muslims should deal with each other.

Ankara, which has offered to run and guard Kabul airport in the capital after NATO withdraws, has been in talks with the United States on financial, political and logistical support for the deployment. read more

Last week the Taliban warned Turkey against those plans to keep some troops in Afghanistan to run the airport, calling the strategy reprehensible and warning of consequences. read more

"In the statement made by the Taliban there is no phrase 'We don't want Turkey'," Erdogan said when asked about the comments.

Separately, Erdogan said that he hoped to raise in talks with U.S. President Joe Biden at this year's U.N. General Assembly the issue of international recognition for Kosovo and would propose joint work on the issue to increase the number of countries which recognise it.

Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Daren Butler; Editing by Dominic Evans

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Turkey's Erdogan says Taliban should end "occupation" in Afghanistan - Reuters

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to travel to the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Monday for a two-day official visit. He has said he will deliver good news in the breakaway state.

But the visit could also further stoke tensions with Greek Cypriots and the European Union over the divided Eastern Mediterranean island, already high over Turkish ambitions in the region and its support for a two-state solution to the Cyprus dispute.

On Tuesday, Erdogan will attend an event marking the 47th anniversary of Turkeys military intervention seen as an invasion by Greek Cypriots on the island and will address the Northern Cyprus parliament in a special session.

I hope we will give messages in the best manner possible for the establishment of the world peace for the island and the whole world through the ceremonies [in Northern Cyprus], he said in remarks on Friday.

We have a good step. We have finished the preliminary studies, the Turkish president said, without giving any further details on the issue.

The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey militarily intervened in response to a brief Greek-backed coup. Turkey said it acted in accordance with a Treaty of Guarantee, signed in 1960 when the Republic of Cyprus was established, which allows Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom to intervene in disputes.

Since the establishment of the TRNC in 1983, the north has been described as an occupied part of Cyprus by the United Nations Security Council. Only Turkey recognises the so-called TRNC as an independent state.

The Republic of Cyprus, which controls the south of the island and has a Greek Cypriot government, became an EU member in 2004.

Repeated diplomatic initiatives over decades to end the dispute have failed.

A UN-initiated gathering in Geneva last April failed to broker a deal between Turkish and Greek Cypriot leaders to resume negotiations stalled in 2017. An Ankara-backed Turkish Cypriot push for a two-state solution to the dispute in Geneva only escalated tensions.

The Greek Cypriot side, and the international community in general, back a federal solution.

Mensur Akgun, a professor of international relations at Istanbul Kultur University, said Erdogan is expected to strongly underline his support for a two-state solution to the islands dispute during his visit.

Turkey has gradually shifted its stance from a federal solution on the island to two-state solution as a settlement could not be found to the dispute on the grounds of the former after decades of talks, he told Al Jazeera.

However, Turkey has not yet put forward a road map to convince the international community and the Greek Cypriot to divert into this direction, Akgun said, adding that this should be the next step on the Turkish side.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday the EU would never accept a two-state proposal for a solution in Cyprus.

I want to repeat that we will never, ever, accept a two-state solution, we are firm on that and very united, and this is what Cyprus can expect, von der Leyen stated during a visit to the island.

The most precious part is unity in the EU, and the knowledge that all 26 member states at the European level are standing by your side, she said, speaking alongside President Nicos Anastasiades.

Akgun said in order to convince the world to accept a two-state solution, Ankara should promote Northern Cyprus as an independent entity and treat the de facto state as its equal.

It should also start talking to the Greek Cypriot side and offer something to them in order to convince them into [agreeing to] a two-state solution, he added.

During his Northern Cyprus visit, Erdogan, as he did in November 2020, is expected to pay a visit to the abandoned beach resort of Varosha, whose Greek Cypriot residents fled during the 1974 Turkish incursion.

In his November visit to the island, Erdogan went to Varosha and said the area would be reopened to the public and that Greek Cypriots would be able to apply at a Turkish Cypriot commission, the Immovable Property Commission, to claim rights to their properties in the resort.

Turkey is also at odds with Greece, another EU member, over energy resources and jurisdiction in the waters in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the countries came to the verge of a military confrontation last year as Turkish vessels explored for hydrocarbons in the region.

Erdogan has repeatedly said Turkey would not cease exploratory activities in the Eastern Mediterranean amid Greek and EU opposition.

Follow Umut Uras on Twitter @Um_Uras

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Turkeys Erdogan visits Northern Cyprus amid tensions with EU - Al Jazeera English

It's been five years since Recep Tayyip Erdogan managed to overcome the coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016 allegedly organized by his old friend, the eccentric cleric in exile, Fethullah Gulen.

Under a two-year emergency rule, Erdogan used all means at his disposal to attempt to wipe away potential hurdles to his ultimate reign. Yet at this moment, Erdogan is more worried than ever about losing his grip on power.

Recent opinion polls suggest he could not win if a presidential race were to take place today. Behind that loss of support are some stubborn mistakes he has kept making over the last five years the kind of mistakes that tyrants make.

Following the coup attempt, under emergency rule, Erdogan started the widest purge in Turkish political history. Tens of thousands of people military officials, judges, prosecutors, bureaucrats, academics were expelled from their jobs without cause and replaced by inexperienced party loyalists.

Banu Gven

Journalists, authors and members of civil society were sent to prison without any prospect of release. Politicians, including his rivals, had been jailed already.

During these five years, Erdogan called anybody getting in the way terrorists or foreign agents. Torture and maltreatment in police custody became business as usual.

He also used the opportunity of emergency rule to shut down critical voices and media outlets, including the news channel where I was working.Such cruelty is hard to ignore, even for sympathizers of the Erdogan regime.

Erdogan overestimated his foreign policy powers and all of Turkey ended up facing the consequences. What was he thinking, imprisoning American pastor Andrew Brunson and accusing him of having links to the Gulenmovement?

In return for releasing the pastor, Erdogan asked former US President DonaldTrump to extradite Fethullah Gulen, who is still based in Pennsylvania. Instead, Turkey got trade tariff changes and sanctions. The Turkish lira plunged 40% against the dollar withina couple of days.

Erdogan chose his inner circle from relatives, friends or people who would only repeat what he liked to hear. So, nobody could tell him about his mistakes. Those who dared to speak were forced out. And the people who surrounded him built their own networks of nepotism.

The confessions of an ex-mafia boss revealed some of the shady business that has evolved around Erdogan's regime, including blackmailing businessmen by simply threatening to accuse them of being Gulenists.

Erdogan replaced three central bank directors within two years because they did not fully agree tohis monetary policies. Although the economy proved him wrong, Erdogan kept claiming that high interest rates were causing runaway inflation.

Appointing his son-in-law Berat Albayrak as finance minister wasn't a good move, either. Albayrak oversaw the central bank selling off $128 billion to prop up the Turkish lira,yet this could not prevent the currency's steep drop. In the end, Albayrak's resignation was welcomed by the financial markets. However, by that time, it was too late to revive the lira.

Like all tyrants, Erdogan's reaction to diversity is anger, violence or denial at best. Be it a differing political opinion, the pro-Kurdish party, a rainbow flag, students, feminists his police and judiciary were repeatedly ordered to brutally intervene.

Erdogan once called the failed coup attempt "a gift from God," thinking it gave him the opportunity to fully capture the state. Yet he has made another mistake all tyrants invariably make.

Tyrants at some point seem to think that they are invincible, until they face the inevitable: Tyranny is a desensitized, disconnected, terminal system, with its own gravity guaranteeing its destruction like a black hole that shrinks until it ultimately vanishes. Erdogan's attitude after the failed coup attempt has accelerated this process.

It seems as though the president has reached the event horizon the point of no return into the black hole of tyranny.

In 1990, Istanbul-based photographer Ergun Cagatay took thousands of photographs of people of Turkish origin in Hamburg, Cologne, Werl, Berlin and Duisburg. These will be on display from June 21 to October 31 at the Ruhr Museum as part of a special exhibition, "We are from here: Turkish-German Life in 1990." Here he's seen in a self-portrait in pit clothes at the Walsum Mine, Duisburg.

Two miners shortly before the end of their shift in an old-style passenger car at Walsum Mine, Duisburg. Due to a rapid economic upturn in the '50s, Germany faced a shortage of trained workers, especially in agriculture and mining. Following the 1961 recruitment agreement between Bonn and Ankara, more than 1 million "guest workers" from Turkey came to Germany until recruitment was stopped in 1973.

Shown here is the upholstery production at the Ford automobile plant in Cologne-Niehl. "Workers have been called, and people are coming," commented Swiss writer Max Frisch back then. Today, the Turkish community, with some immigrants' families now in their fourth generation, forms the largest ethnic minority group in Germany, with 2.5 million people.

During his three-month photo expedition through Germany, Cagatay experienced a country in transition. Between the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification, Germany was in the process of becoming a multicultural society. Here a demonstrator is seen at a rally against the draft of the new Aliens Act, in Hamburg on March 31, 1990.

The photos provide an insight into the diversity of Turkish-German life. Seen here is the eight-member family of Hasan Hseyin Gl in Hamburg. The exhibition is the most comprehensive coverage on Turkish immigration of the first and second generation of "guest workers."

Today, foodstuff like olives and sheep's cheese can be easily found in Germany. Previously, the guest workers loaded their cars with food from home during their trips back. Slowly, they set up their culinary infrastructure here in Germany, to the delight of all gourmets. Here we see the owners of the Mevsim fruit and vegetable store in Weidengasse, Cologne-Eigelstein.

Children with balloons at the Sudermanplatz in Cologne's Agnes neighborhood. On the wall in the background is a mural of a tree with an excerpt of a poem by Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet: "To live! Like a tree alone and free. Like a forest in brotherhood. This yearning is ours." Hikmet himself lived in exile in Russia, where he died in 1963.

At the Quran school of the Fatih mosque in Werl, children learn Arabic characters to be able to read the Quran. It was the first newly built mosque with a minaret in Germany that was opened at that time. People no longer had to go to the backyard to pray.

Photographer Cagatay mingles with guests at a wedding at Oranienplatz in Berlin-Kreuzberg. In the Burcu event hall, guests pin money on the newlyweds, often with the wish "may you grow old with one pillow"; newlyweds traditionally share a single long pillow on the marital bed.

Traditions are maintained in the new homeland too. Here at a circumcision party in Berlin Kreuzberg, "Mashallah" in written on the boy's sash. It means "praise be" or "what God has willed." This exhibition is sponsored by the German Foreign Office, among others. In addition to Essen, Hamburg and Berlin, it is also being held in cooperation with the Goethe Institute in Izmir, Istanbul and Ankara.

Author: Ceyda Nurtsch

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Opinion: Turkey's Erdogan has reached the event horizon - DW (English)

The presidents of Israel and Turkey agreed to work to improve ties between the two countries,a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans ruling party said Wednesday, according a Thursday report by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News.

Erdogan held his first call with Israels new president, Isaac Herzog, on Monday. The conversation between Herzog and Erdogan lasted for 40 minutes and was very positive, according to Herzogs office.

How Israels compromise coalition accidentally ended one racist policy

Hurriyet quoted Omer Celik, spokesman for the Justice and Development Party, as saying that [a] framework emerged after this call under which advances should be made on several issues where improvements can be made, and where steps towards solving problematic areas should be taken. Tourism and trade are areas in which both sides will benefit from cooperation, he was quoted as saying.

Ass for whether the two countries will appoint ambassadors, Celik told the newspaper:It is early yet. They are, of course, being evaluated, in the end, all of these are matters that depend on the steps to be taken.

Meanwhile, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported, citing unnamed sources, that Israel has refused a Turkish offer to mediate a prisoner exchange deal with Hamas. According to the sources, Israel would like to see Egypt keep its role as mediator, and opposes Turkish involvement in the Gaza Strip.

Ties between Turkey and Israel have frequently been rocky, and both countries expelled the others diplomatic representative in 2018, when Turkey ordered the Israeli ambassador to return to Israel and Israel told the Turkish consul in Jerusalem, who was in charge of Turkeys ties with the Palestinians, to return to Turkey.

A diplomatic source told Haaretz that although Erdogan has signaled a desire to improve ties with Israel several times in recent years, his blunt statements on the Palestinian issue some as recent as the past week make it difficult for diplomats to discern his intentions.

In 2011, in response to a UN report stating that Israel did not violate international law when it forcibly took control of a Turkish Gaza-bound flotilla, Erdogan downgraded Turkeys ties with Israel, recalled its ambassador in Tel Aviv, and expelled the Israeli ambassador from Ankara. In 2016, the two countries signed a reconciliation agreement that included the payment by Israel of $20 million to a humanitarian foundation used for reparations for the families of Turkish citizens who died onboard the flotilla. The agreement led to the appointment of an Israeli ambassador in Ankara, who served for two years before being expelled.m

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Israel and Turkey agree to improve relations, spokesman for Erdogans party says - Haaretz