As the BDS movement around the world gains traction and acceptance against Israel and its illegal occupation , the Turkish government of Erdogan is cozying up to Israel.

All the previous shows of accusing the Israeli president of murdering Palestinian children, sending show “aid” to Gaza is all over now. It is time for Erdogan to kiss and make up to Zionism as his entire policies in the region is failing one after the other and Turkey becomes the most isolated country in the region.

Without much fanfare, Turkey, with Erdogan’s leadership, is inching shyly towards Israel with flirtatious serenading after she found herself in trouble with all her neighbors due to trying both to follow the US policies religiously and trying to cut itself a piece of the pie in the Middle East at the same time.

Maybe this unpopular move is forced by US “suggestions” or by the many Jewish owned PR corporations in the US that Erdogan is paying hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to represent and advise Turkey on public relations and damage control is unknown. While Erdogan’s strategy has always been to beat Israel in its own game and to become the favorite dog of the US in the region to replace Israel as the United States’ favorite client, US’s position has been to suggest coordination between its two puppets to coordinate against any threats to US interests.

However, these are not the times to cause or sustain the frictions between the two US clients. Ironically, Erdogan is now turning to the ideas that were supported by his current arch enemy, Fethullah Gulen, who is under CIA protection in the USA. Mr. Gulen and Erdogan were longtime friends and collaborators in shaping Turkey as an Islamic Empire modeled after the defunct Ottomans. However as Erdogan’s ego and the threat of losing the government before completing his dream of becoming the caliphate of the Islamic world while still “serving the west” forced him to take steps and measures too fast for Gulen. Gulen’s strategy is to toe the line shown by the US and Israel no matter what the reality on the ground may require for an elected official. Put another way, Gulen, living in a huge compound surrounded by high fenses and his machine gun touting body guards in Philadelphia and enjoying the constant protection from CIA and the FBI does not have the responsibility to please the nagging contractors, investors, bankers, business man and fellow capitalists while trying to hide these corrupt relationships from the general population every day. The obvious difference between Erdogan and Gulen on whether to show some local initiative or to toe the imperialist line to the letter finally came to a head when Erdogan attacked Gulen’s lucrative private school businesses. Gulen struck back with his secret “parallel” organization in the Turkish police force by secretly recording Erdogan’s phone conversation and embarrassing him publicly. The worst was the published phone conversation between Erdogan and his son, businessman, Bilal where the prime minister Erdogan instructs his son on how to clean his home from the nearly a billion dollars stashed secretly around the house.

Gulen opposed Erdogan’s public stunts against Israel and imperialism even though all parties knew how fake these publicity shows were. Gulen is opposed to even fake, show or outright ridiculous displays of hypocrisy against imperialist forces. Erdogan, on the other hand, has to put out some kind of a staged play for his voters and the Middle East region that he opposes Israel or stands up to the US. While extending ties, business relationships, trading, military pacts, and security exchanges with Israel, he pretends to be the leader in the region who can stand up to the Israeli injustice. Erdogan simply needs this mask in order to get elected in a country he helped push towards more Islamic shade of fascism.

After offending and provoking animosity with all its neighbors and consecutively being completely isolated Turkey is now seeking the warm embrace of Israel, cozying up to imperialism, coming to the line promoted by Gulen.

Turkey has approached Israel for better relationships just when the isolation in the region became unbearable for her. The problem is how to make the public in Turkey swallow this brazen turnabout and contradicts the image Erdogan tried so hard to portray for a long time.

While Erdogan’s followers stay conspicuously silent on this issue of kindling the old flame with Israel, the Turkish branch of BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel) exposes the hypocrisy.

BDS Turkey announced that the agreement between Erdogan’s government and Israel under the guise of “normalization” is nothing but stabbing the Palestinians in the back. BDS also demanded that the ruling AKP (JDP) party immediately cease negotiations with Zionists.

BDS stressed that the conflicts with Russia was being used as an excuse to approach Israel. It was noted in the announcement that while Turkey claims the blockade against Gaza would be lifted with this agreement, there is not a single mention of this in the agreement!

It was also noted in the announcement that hundreds of Palestinians have been killed just because they resisted against the illegal Israeli occupation. Examples were given of how an Israeli settler murdered the Devabashe family by burning them alive, or, how murdering a Palestinian baby by an Israeli settler were not given any sentences by the illegal Israeli courts. BDS reminded that the Palestinian people of Gaza were living in an abject poverty under illegal Israeli occupation and called for the Turkish government to stand by Palestinians instead of seeking closer ties with the Zionist Israel.

BDS also emphasized that Turkey should not take part in the trade of natural gas stolen by Israel from the Palestinian people.

Stop negotiating with Zionists!
No normalization with murderers!

Sendika.Org News (Mehmet Bayram)