No not kidding at all. Israel is in the core of the Middle East area, its considered part of the Middle East by everyone, and is often on the minds of the Arabs, more so than Turkey. Turkey is on the periphery, and looks to Europe as much as it looks to the Middle East. Yes Israel is hated by many Arabs, but that hate is "something do with" as well.
In the last few years, Turkey's position in the ME has changed. First the EU rejected Turkey's quest for membership. Secondly, in the last couple of years, Israel and Turkey have had a serious confrontation for the first time. Relations between the two have deteriorated significantly.
As a consequence of both developments, Turkey is much more closely aligned with the Arab nations in the region than it has been in the past.
Turkey would be more likely to serve as a template for democracy among the Arabs, than Israel would, but neither would be much of a template. A stable Arab democracy, particularly a relatively large country that was a stable democracy would be needed to have serious impact in the Arab world. In this sense and in a number of others, the Israelis, the Turks, and the Persians are outsides (not that Iran has been democratic, but if it was...).
Turkey is not the outsider you think it is. |
