It has recently been reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are searching for a common ground to facilitate an official visit of the the leader of the Jewish State in Ankara. The effort to revive the ante-2010 Israeli-Turkish relations is certainly not new. Keeping in mind that the economic and trade relations never ceased, on the one hand, Turkey seeks a rapprochement since December 2020, and on the other, President Herzog's visit to Turkey was also towards this goal.
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Domestic and external imperatives in both countries are the driving force for this new reconciliation effort. Netanyahu faces well-known challenges both domestically and externally that are equally existential for the Jewish State. Domestic instability affects the morale both of the prime minister himself, given the trial that he faces, and the state, since rallies against the judicial reforms jeopardize domestic cohesion amidst severe Iranian threats. The danger of Iran reaching 90% purity in uranium enrichment finds Israel pushing its allies and the international community in general for a solution that will dissolute once and for all the nuclear aspirations of the ayatollahs. Also, this seems to be the legacy of Netanyahu who foresaw the elusiveness of the JCPOA back in 2015 and insisted on a more aggressive action to cut off the head of the octopus.
Since the rest of the world does not endorse Israel's anguish and given the Israeli doctrine of self-reliance, thjis forces Israel to explore its possibilities, which also includes improved relations with Turkey whose location and relations with the Sunni and Shiite world are all critical. However, President Erdogan sets preconditions for the meeting.
There is a Greek saying, "What does the fox seek at the Shuk" that is being used to state that it is impossible for a fox to make its appearance in the market or at a bazaar because they will immediately try to catch it. This means that the culprit always gets away from places where it is easy to expose his crime.
The fox, meaning Erdoğan, demands as a prerequisite from Netanyahu to deliver to the Sultan news on gas cooperation between the two countries. Given the flourishing relations in defense, energy, and military cooperation between the axis of the pillars of democracy and stability in the region: Israel, Greece and Cyprus; the fact that the Hellenic world, Greece and Cyprus, strengthen their relations with the Israeli defense industry by agreeing to buy Iron Dome-Cyprus- and SPIKE missiles-Greece-, Israel is juggling between Turkey and Greece and Cyprus.
From a Hellenic perspective, the leader of the Republic of Cyprus, President Nikos Christodoulides, is clear on retaining the excellent relations with Israel. When it comes to Greece, Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who, as the exit polls predict, will be in office for four more years, fervently supports the three plus one cooperation in the region, meaning, Israel, Greece, Cyprus and the US.
Plus, the designated Greek foreign policy of the last four years under the ministership of Nikos Dendias showed that Greece is an honest broker; retains good relations with the Arab world; does its best to sit at the negotiation table with Turkey, as long as the latter respects the International law. Despite the good spirit that has arisen from the Greek humanitarian aid to alleviate the Turkish people in the devastated 7.8 earthquake of February 2023 near the borders of Turkey and Syria, Turkey repeats itself by initiating again a hybrid war against Greece, as it did in 2020, by sending migrants in the land border between Turkey-Greece in Evros.
Greece and Cyprus know better than anyone what the mentality of any Turkish leadership is. Israel has made it crystal clear that it does not wish to interfere in the Greco-Turkish conflict. Meanwhile, Netanyahu who enjoys great relations with both leaders of Greece and Cyprus and has no illusions about the fox, has to weigh carefully any implications should he decide a change of the route of the Jewish ship in the turbulent waters of the Eastern Mediterranean where Turkey fantasizes the revival of its Ottoman past.
Netanyahu, the longest sitting prime minister with unique leadership skills should skillfully handle the situation in the deep waters of the East Mediterranean. After all, he is aware of the footprints of the culprit all over the land of Judea: It takes a walk around eastern Jerusalem to witness the established presence of Turkish entity. Bearing the sign of AKP (the Turkish ruling party) and a portrait of Sultan Erdoğan in shops, one such entity not only advertises its activities as the benefactor in Jerusalem but also puts an effort to "ease the hardships as a result of Israel's ongoing policy of Judaization", as they put it in their official site. On the domestic front, Erdoğan has officially embraced a terror group that became Erdoğan's most recent political ally. Finally, the well-known fact that Erdoğan openly supports Hamas and that Turkey fosters Hamas militias on its soil, does not seem to be a subject of a political change under the presidency of Erdoğan, who aspires to be the leader of the Muslim worls. Thus, this time, in this official visit, is it possible for the fox to make its appearance at the Shuk and simultaneously get away with his crimes?
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