Mending Fences

"There is an offence that has been committed and there needs to be an accountability. All of the embargoes should be eliminated once and for all."
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

Perhaps U.S. President Barack Obama and his top State Department envoy John Kerry don't have it top of mind that apologies in the Middle East work to the disadvantage of those who humbly take responsibility for the offence of those who huff at the wrong-doing of others in responding to their own provocations, eliciting that offence to begin with. An apology gives immense advantage to the one being apologized to.

To apologize is not simply a matter of mending fences between allies and neighbours, to apologize is to admit that one was wrong, guilty, responsible. Where, in this particular instance, as in so many others, nothing could be further from the truth. The Mavi Marmora set off from Turkey with the blessing of Ankara, which knew full well what it was doing, and what the outcome would be.

It could hardly be otherwise given the circumstances.

A shield of the presence of sanctimoniously righteous Palestinian supporters revelling in the opportunity to demonstrate their antipathy toward Israel by masking it with a humanitarian veil of compassionate concern, to cover the presence of Turkish Islamists belonging to a terrorist group intent on fomenting problems, and they did just that.

When the Turkish terrorists launched an attack on the unprepared IDF naval personnel rappelling from a helicopter down onto the top deck of the ship, the Israelis had little option but to respond in kind, in fear of their lives and to halt any further escalation of the violence that overtook the ship.

The IDF was responding as any other sovereign country would in protecting the perfectly legal blockade of a violent jihadist-obsessed entity determined to destroy the State of Israel.

With the apology that Barack Obama set in motion, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meekly apologizing as demanded to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, jubilation swiftly set in.  A diplomatic victory had been achieved. Billboards were set up in Ankara in celebration of Natenyahu's abject apology, praising Erdogan for restoring pride and honour to his country.

Initial amicability was set aside for a frosty decision that it would take time to settle the issue.

Israel had offered $100,000 compensation to the families of the nine dead Turks, and Ankara has demanded $1-million instead to each family. That done, the embargo must be completely lifted. Turkey, needless to say, has its own problems, such as its decades-long conflict with Turkish Kurds agitating for their own sovereignty, and it's fine to slaughter them, but not so good when Israel defends itself by responding to Hamas violence against Israel.

Turkey takes outrage to stratospheric levels whenever the subject of the Ottoman Empire slaughter of Turkish Armenians comes to the fore. Denying any such hostile rumour that has its base in the reality of history. But to state that it occurred represents an atrocious slander against Turkey, and the government will never acknowledge the genocidal conflict, nor heaven forfend, apologize for it, as Armenians demand.

Turkey has its standards, after all. It has its pride and its honour to support, against the evil intentions of its detractors. Armenians, Greeks, Jews, they're all out to blacken Turkey's gold-standard reputation.

And even when the matter of compensation to the families of the nine dead Turks has been agreed upon, the matter will not end. There is a civil action in Turkey against Israel for the deaths, with extended family members all claiming compensation due them. The "public lawsuit" seeking criminal action will not be withdrawn, according to a plaintiff lawyer.


"But there are some 40 separate compensation cases which might be settled in response to such payment", lawyer Ugur Yildirim added, most seeking symbolic compensation. In full measure, the total compensation by plaintiffs sought at courts across Turkey reaches ten million Turkish lira. "More lawsuits might be on the way", warned the lawyer.

An apology in the Middle East, signifies guilt. It indicates weakness. It signals that whoever apologizes has something to be guilty about, and that being the case, the guilty party can be subjected to the pleasures of abuse, manipulation, gestures of contempt, and any number of insulting and slanderous, destructive and vicious treatment.

All in the cause of mending fences, you see.