The fallout from yesterday’s statements by Netanyahu, who called on President Trump not to include Turkey in the F-35 fighter jet program, as well as the recent escalation of inflammatory remarks between Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar, demonstrate that both the Trump administration and the NATO alliance as a whole are called upon to “weigh” the importance of Turkey’s and Israel’s roles in the broader region, as pointed out by Gabriel Charitos, visiting professor of international relations at Panteion University, noted while speaking on the ALPHA ENIMEROSI program with Katia Savva.
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The pros and cons
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
On the one hand, Turkey, a member state of the North Atlantic Alliance, is geographically situated exactly between the Ukrainian front and the Middle Eastern front, and it has the second-largest army after that of the United States. It maintains an open channel of communication with Moscow—something the Trump administration now shares — but at the same time, it has for years been developing a significant axis of regional cooperation with Arab and Muslim countries, which, however, are not included in the Abraham Accords and do not intend to be included in them in the future.
On the other hand, Israel, although not a NATO member state, maintains a special strategic relationship with the North Atlantic Alliance, primarily due to its privileged relationship with the United States. It is noteworthy that at previous NATO summits, Israel was represented, which is not the case this time, due to persistent pressure from Ankara, as has been widely reported in the Israeli media in recent days.
A key argument put forward by the Israeli side is that during the war against Iran, Turkey decided to remain uninvolved, as it has done in many similar cases in other hotspots in the region, whereas Israel, on the other hand, has proven in practice that it is far more reliable whenever Washington has requested its assistance. The second Israeli argument, which focuses on the F-35s, is that they are equipped with advanced navigation systems patented and manufactured in Israel, and the Israelis do not want their own know-how to leak to Turkey. On a political level, Netanyahu places the occupation of Cyprus and Turkey’s “xasus belli” against Greece very high in his public rhetoric, essentially “winking” at the Greek and Jewish lobbies in the U.S., which have developed close cooperation with the ultimate goal of preventing Congress from allowing Trump to include Turkey in the F-35 program.
In any case, however, even if President Trump ultimately assures Turkey that he will push forward with its request to acquire the American F-35s, Congress’s role is crucial, as the final outcome of the matter will depend on whether it lifts its objection to the sale of F-35s to Turkey
Watch Gabriel Haritos’ analysis on today’s episode of ALPHA ENIMEROSI with Katia Savva
