Criticism of the Turkish opposition parties is no longer limited to the policies of the ruling party (Justice and Development) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan related to the country’s internal street. Rather, it has shifted to target his foreign policy, which has witnessed during the past months a series of transformations and developments.
The latest of these transformations is in the relationship between Ankara and Riyadh, after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made a first-of-its-kind visit to Turkey since 2018, the date of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country’s consulate in Istanbul.
The Khashoggi case and the Turkish way of dealing with the incident played the most prominent role in the deterioration of relations between the two countries, until it was closed by the Turkish judiciary, in a step considered by observers as a turning point for the normalization of relations again.
In parallel with the aforementioned course, the Turkish government had recently tended to re-normalize its relations with Israel, after a stalemate in relations that lasted for years.
Relations worsened after the Israeli military campaign on the Gaza Strip in 2008, to deteriorate and reach the point of further rupture after the Israeli navy intercepted the “Freedom Flotilla” in May 2012, when the Israeli commandos were accused of killing ten Turkish activists.
As a result, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and froze military cooperation after a United Nations report on the incident in 2011 concluded that Israel was largely exonerated.
Israel and Turkey have reduced intelligence sharing and canceled joint military exercises.
In 2016, Turkey returned to announce the resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel after years of quarrel, where Erdogan confirmed at the time that an agreement had been reached with Israel and that “economic relations with it will begin to improve.”
Two years later, tension returned again in the relations between the two countries, due to the Turkish position on the Israeli military operations in Gaza, and the diplomatic relations between them became at the level of the Chargé d’Affairs.
However, since the end of last year, a positive atmosphere has prevailed between the two countries, at a time when Ankara revealed a new direction in terms of its foreign policy, which was not limited to a specific country, but withdrew to target a wide list, including the UAE, Bahrain, Armenia, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt. .
The opposition “did not close the accounts”
Two days ago, the leader of the Republican People’s Party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, paid a visit to the family of Getty Topkooglu, who lost his life in the “Freedom Flotilla” incident.
After the meeting, he said, in a series of tweets via “Twitter”: “There is a price for the martyrdom of our citizens in international waters. My message to Israel: This issue is not closed to us.”
“I believe in Turkey, which has an opinion in the region and has the ability to rationally diplomacy (behind closed doors). But we have red lines,” added Kilchdaroglu, the country’s most prominent opposition leader, stressing: “The issue is not closed to us.”
Moreover, the leader of the People’s Party had some other words as well, as he put it.
After he finished his talk about Israel, he went to address Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Arabia, saying: “Killing on our land also has a price. Our account with him has not been closed. Turkey is a great country, and he will be forced to pay the price for what he did on our land,” referring to a murder incident. Khashoggi, and the accusations against the Saudi crown prince.
A Turkish court had dropped the Khashoggi case five days before the crown prince’s trip to Turkey.
Turkish media, including “Ikhlas” agency, stated that the decision of the “11” Criminal Court for severe penalties in Istanbul to drop the case against the 26 Saudis was issued on June 17, noting that it was taken unanimously.
The Turkish Public Prosecutor had requested last April that the trial be transferred to Riyadh, after it had begun in Istanbul during the past years.
“a veiled threat”
Meanwhile, Kilashdaroglu implicitly threatened Greece with “nationalist” resistance, reminding Athens of the 1974 Turkish army invasion of Cyprus led by then Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit – who was also the leader of the Republican People’s Party – and Deputy Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan.
Turkey argues that Greece has been arming some of its islands, which have non-military status, under a set of agreements signed since the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had called on Greece to stop arming the islands, otherwise its sovereignty would be questioned by Turkey.
For his part, Kishdaroglu added, “I am also very clear about Greece’s arming of the islands. Greece knows very well Kuvayi Milliye (national forces) as well as the late Ecevit and Erbakan.”
The foregoing comes at a time of intensifying confrontation between the Turkish government and opposition parties, as a kind of preparation for the presidential elections scheduled for June 2023.
The opposition parties have always been committed to limiting their criticism in the past within the country’s internal borders, and since the beginning of this year, they have tended to deal with files related to Turkey’s foreign policy.