Erdogan labels Israel a ‘spoilt child’

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, accused Israel of behaving like a “spoiled child” as he declared a freeze on military trade between the two countries in response to Israel’s refusal to apologise for a 2010 raid on a ship carrying activists trying to reach the Gaza Strip.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated in recent days following the publication of a UN report which both said Israel had the right to control access to waters off Gaza and accused it of using excessive force in the 2010 raid.

The ship, the Mavi Marmara, was part of a flotilla of activist vessels trying to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Eight Turkish citizens and one US-Turkish dual national died on the ship.

Labelling Israel a “spoiled child” and a supporter of “state terror”, Mr Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkey was suspending all trade “relations related with defence” with the country because of its refusal to apologise.

Trade between the two countries totalled almost $3.5bn last year. One casualty may be a $141m deal to upgrade Turkish F16 fighter jets with Israeli-made electronics.

But the growing dispute between the two countries may also have regional consequences.

Mr Erdogan is planning to visit Egypt next week to sign a strategic partnership agreement – a trip that may include travelling across the border to the Gaza Strip – and his stance could put pressure on Cairo to harden its own line towards Israel.

Turkey announced last week that it was expelling senior diplomats from Israel’s embassy in Ankara, freezing defence ties and planning measures to protect shipping in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In recent days, Israeli and Turkish passengers have complained of being harassed and humiliated at Istanbul and Tel Aviv airports respectively and on Tuesday Mr Erdogan said Turkey would take a more “visible” presence in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The sharp deterioration in relations has alarmed Israeli officials and the broader public alike, heightening an already mounting sense of diplomatic and regional isolation.

“We are deliberately adopting a policy of restraint,” said an Israeli official. “We want to contain the problem and solve the problem, and that won’t be done by exchanging harsh words.”

Israeli officials are worried above all else that Turkey’s confrontational posture will eventually be mirrored by Egypt and Jordan – the only Arab countries with diplomatic ties to Israel – leaving Israel without a single ally in the Muslim world.

Israeli analysts argue that Mr Erdogan’s planned visit to Egypt will be a critical test. Israel fears that the Egyptian leadership will allow the Turkish leader to cross into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, a move that would hand a crucial political victory to the Islamist group and mark a painful snub to Israel.

Mr Erdogan said on Tuesday he would only make a final decision whether to visit Gaza once he was in Egypt and would do so in consultation with Cairo.

“If the Egyptians allow him to visit, it is a new era in relations between Turkey and Egypt,” said Alon Liel, a former Israeli envoy to Ankara. “We will do everything possible to prevent that but if they do allow it, it will be a dramatic shift in regional diplomacy.”

Steven Cook, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, added that Turkey’s stance would have important consequences in the US. “Israel’s supporters in Washington are going to mobilise against Turkey in a big way,” he said. But he added that Turkey had been “extraordinarily shrewd” by agreeing last week a Nato missile defence deal long sought by the US – so demonstrating its value to its Nato partners.

The current Turkish-Israeli tensions are expected to undermine all aspects of the relationship – from trade and military ties to culture and sporting events.

The most high-profile Turkish-Israeli military deal of recent years – the sale of ten Israeli-made Heron drones to the Turkish air force – will not be affected. The $150m deal was finally completed last year, when Turkey took delivery of the drones.

But the 2008 deal to supply Israeli-made electronic imaging systems to the Turkish fleet of F-16s could now be frozen. Turkey was due to take delivery of the units in the next 12-18 months. The Israeli companies involved are IAI and Elbit.

A less serious, but perhaps more visible, test of the Turkish-Israeli relationship is likely to come next week, when the football teams of Besiktas Istanbul and Maccabi Tel Aviv meet in the group stage of the Uefa Europe League. The match will take place in Istanbul, in front of one of the most passionate home crowds in Turkey.

“If I was a supporter of Maccabi, I wouldn’t go to Istanbul,” said Mr Liel.