"Turkey is the only country in the Middle East with extensive military, economic and political/development relations and strategic cooperation," said Gerger and added that "Turkey buys weapons from Israel and has its military equipment including tanks repaired by Israel. Until very recently Israeli planes were having flying exercises within the vast Turkish airspace before bombing Palestinians. Both countries organize joint military war games against potential enemies! They are both strategic partners in America’s network in the region."

What will happen now?

The Turkish government is caught between two real pressures. One is coming from its complicity and cooperation with Israel and which is being rudely disregarded by the Israeli government. The other one is the reaction of the public opinion and rage at home. How they could get out of this impasse we have to wait and see. A fiery rhetoric and perhaps symbolic gestures concerning Gaza may be in the agenda. Turkey is a member of the Security Council of the UN and may try to show off some diplomatic muscle there. Will the government dare to emulate a "Korean example" and create a fake tension in the Mediterranean will be dependent on the force of the public opinion. It seems the real burden will be on the Obama administration to diffuse the crisis.

How this ‘crisis’ could be used at home?

Yesterday there has been a PKK attack in a naval base in Iskenderun. The government may use this occasion for domestic consumption against the Kurds and talk of complicity between the PKK and the Zionists. That would be to carry the whole episode in a twisted way into domestic politics and into the burning Kurdish question. (ANF / NEWS DESK, June 1, 2010)

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