International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, 2 Jun 2010

After fully endorsing the hostile Gaza aid flotilla intercepted by IDF forces this week, senior Turkish officials have indicated that the Ankara government is willing to restore normal relations with Israel if Jerusalem agrees to lift the "inhumane" blockade on Gaza and free at once the passengers ‘kidnapped’ from on board the vessels.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Davutogu told a news conference in Ankara on Wednesday that "it was time calm replaces anger" in the wake of Monday’s deadly clash between IDF forces and Muslim thugs who had joined the Free Gaza flotilla -- an encounter at sea that cost nine lives and which Turkey’s Islamist prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had denounced as a "bloody massacre."

Over recent days, Turkey has led the international condemnation of Israel and pressed the UN and NATO for tough punitive responses. Turkey also recalled its ambassador to Israel and cancelled three joint military exercises with the IDF, once its closest regional ally.

The call for calm came only after the IDF finally released video footage clearly showing its elite commando units were first attacked by armed militants on board the flotilla’s Turkish flagship, the Mavi Marmara. Still, Davutogu insisted the future of Turkey-Israel relations depends upon Israel’s attitude going forward.

Davutoglu said Turkey plans to begin UN deliberations on Thursday in order to launch an international commission to investigate the Israeli naval operation, with "clear solidarity", he believes, from Washington.

Middle East analysts are saying the Gaza flotilla crisis could mark a definitive turning point in Turkey’s relations with Israel and the West, which have been on the skids ever since Erdogan and his Islamist AKP party took power five years ago. Tensions between Jerusalem and Ankara escalated last year during the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in Gaza and some see Erdogan’s very public support for the efforts to break the Gaza blockade as a signal his regime wants to become the champion of the Palestinian cause and to assume leadership of the Sunni Muslim world.

Three ships in six-vessel pro-Hamas convoy flew Turkish flags and were crowded with Turkish citizens, many of whom took part in the premeditated assaults on Israeli troops.

The flotilla’s main financial sponsor, the wealthy and well-connected Turkish charity IHH, is a radical Islamist group with ties to both the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaida. It appears they recruited members of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated parties in the parliaments of Egypt and Jordan to join the flotilla, as well as trained global jihadists from Indonesia and Yemen.

"They say they do charity work, but they’ve been accused of gunrunning and other things, and their rhetoric has been inflammatory against Israel and sometimes against Jews," Henri J. Barkey, a professor of international relations at Lehigh University, told The New York Times.

For example, in 2006 Turkish security forces raided IHH's Istanbul bureau and found firearms, explosives and bomb-making instructions. Turkish investigators concluded this "charity" was sending jihadists to Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan.

All of this is known to Erdogan, and yet he put his full weight behind IHH and the Gaza aid flotilla.

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