Ankara tries to play honest broker

By Delphine Strauss

Published: January 21 2009 02:00 | Last updated: January 21 2009 02:00

Ahmet Davutoglu, top foreign policy adviser to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, returned from eight days of frantic talks in Cairo and Damascus to a telling-off from his daughter. "You're travelling every day, we don't get to see you but there are still children being killed. You're not doing your job," was the 10-year-old's verdict, he says.

The anecdote illustrates the twin impulses driving Turkey's response to the crisis in Gaza - its ambition to lead diplomatic efforts to resolve the violence and an emotional reaction out of sympathy for Palestinian suffering.

In recent months, Turkey's ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) has been basking in international praise for a burst of diplomacy in which it mended relations with its neighbours and sought a role as peacemaker in regional conflicts.

After pushing for co-operation in the Caucasus, holding a dialogue with Iran on nuclear policy, mediating between Israel and Syria and hosting meetings between Pakistani and Afghan leaders, Turkey finally won a coveted two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council – which it took as confirmation of its new-found influence.

But Gaza has proved one of the biggest tests yet of Ankara's ambitions – one that has allowed it to flex its newly developed regional muscle but has also exposed the limits of its influence, strained long-standing ties with Israel and shown how hard it is to maintain statesmanlike detachment under pressure of public opinion. "It has been an extremely difficult position for Turkey, which has a privileged relationship with Israel but . . . cultural and historical ties with countries in the Middle East, especially with Palestinians," says Sinan Ulgen, an ex-diplomat who heads Edam, an Istanbul think-tank.

Ankara's policy has long been to avoid taking sides in an area once ruled by the Ottoman empire, sustaining both military co-operation with Israel and diplomatic relations with the Palestinians over several decades. But the outrage among Turks at the latest bloodshed is overwhelming. Mass protests replaced new year street parties when the attacks began. Banners draped around Istanbul declare: "We too are Palestinians" and taxi drivers display pictures of mutilated children.

Answering the public mood, Mr Erdogan toured Middle Eastern countries, called European leaders daily and received visits from Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, and Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general. But in contrast with Turkey's ambitions as regional mediator, his efforts have been tilted to the Palestinian side and his criticism of Israel has been unequivocal – calling for its exclusion from the UN, accusing its politicians of electioneering and describing the offensive as a "dark stain on humanity".

Turkish premiers have condemned Israeli actions in the past. But Mr Erdogan's criticism carries a sense of personal affront. He said Ehud Olmert's failure to warn Turkey of his plans – although the Israeli prime minister visited Ankara only a few days before launching the assault – was "an act of disrespect towards Turkey". Ankara's mediation between Israel and Syria, meant to prove its worth as a partner to the EU and the US, is now "in smoke", as one western diplomat put it, adding that Mr Erdogan's "street sensibility", a feeling of slight that Israel had not repaid his efforts, was behind his reaction.

But Mr Erdogan's emotive response has damaged Turkey's position as a non-partisan interlocutor in the region, attracting comment in the Israeli press, remonstrations with the Turkish ambassador in Tel Aviv and anger among Jewish lobby groups in the US. The episode is unlikely to cause a lasting breach with Israel. But some analysts warn there are dangers for US relations if Turkey loses the support of Jewish groups that have previously helped fend off the Armenian lobby's calls for massacres under the Ottoman empire to be recognised as genocide.

"The strength of Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East is that it has a relation with all the major players," says Fadi Hakura at Chatham House in London. "By appearing to take an anti-Israeli stance, it undermined its ability to broker a peace deal."

A further complication is that the AKP's foreign policy is coloured, in the eyes of Turkish commentators, by its sense of Muslim identity: some say it wants to recreate the Ottoman role of leadership in the Muslim world.

But even if Turkey has not played the leading role in halting the Gaza violence in Gaza, it may still be instrumental in creating a lasting settlement – using its ties with Israel and political relations developed with Hamas. Ali Babacan, foreign minister, has made clear the country would contribute troops to a monitoring force, although diplomats prefer to talk of technical assistance.

Mr Davutoglu dismisses claims that Turkey is shifting from its US and European allegiances towards the Muslim world. "There is no shift in Turkey's foreign policy axis," he says. "Whatever happens in this region affects us. We can't be silent, we can't be waiting; we should be active."