DAMASCUS // Syria's efforts to tilt the region's balance of power more in its favour advanced this week as Arab and Turkish legislators held their first round of formal talks here in its capital. The meetings between officials from the Arab League parliament and Turkey's national assembly were designed to reinforce political and economic co-operation. And they come at a time when Ankara's once robust ties to Israel are in tatters.
Adnan Omran, the secretary general of the Arab parliament, which is based in Damascus, said Tel Aviv was "dying of jealousy" over the burgeoning Arab-Turkish relationship, which has Syria at its heart. The two days of talks ended on Sunday, with the delegations having discussed the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict, Iraq and the future spread of nuclear power throughout the Middle East. Turkey has been a key supporter of Iran's right to have a nuclear programme and has tried to diffuse growing tensions between Tehran and the international community over the matter.
"We see things eye-to-eye with Turkey over a wide range of issues," said Mr Omran, a former deputy Syrian foreign minister, who headed the Damascus meetings. "These talks are concerned with building up our strategic co-operation with Turkey which was, until recently, considered a military and political ally of Israel." Turkey had long maintained close ties to the Jewish state and acted as a mediator between Damascus and Tel Aviv during a series of indirect talks in 2008 that were aimed at bringing the warring parties to the negotiating table.
Those talks collapsed following the start of Israel's assault on Gaza in December of that year, an incident that markedly cooled the relationship between Turkey and Israel. It was then plunged into deeper turmoil three months ago when Israeli commandos raided a Turkish-backed aid flotilla en route to Gaza, killing nine people. Ankara severed diplomatic connections with Tel Aviv and has refused to restore them until compensation has been paid and apologies offered.
This came amid already widespread signs that Turkey, a Nato member, had ended a western-orientated policy hinged on joining the European Union (EU), and was looking east for diplomatic and trading partners. Murat Mercan, the chairman of the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee, was among the delegates in Damascus. He confirmed there had been a shift in Turkey's attitudes and that ties with Israel were "frozen" for the foreseeable future.
"Several factors have changed Turkish foreign policy and we are now looking not only for close ties with Europe and Nato, we have expanded our vision eastwards," he said. Mr Mercan expressed disappointment at the "stalling" of Ankara's relationship with Tel Aviv, saying the Turkish had come to view the current Israeli government, led by the hard-line prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, as lacking the desire to find a peaceful solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
"The Israeli government has a counterproductive obsession with short-term security that in the long term does not benefit the Israeli people at all," he said. "For that reason we have been very critical but it was the raid on the aid flotilla that has caused a real re-evaluation of our political and economic policies. That was the first time that Turkish blood has been spilled by Israeli soldiers."
Syria has been in a state of war with Israel for decades and has typically sought alliances that will help it stand against its richer and more powerful opponent. During the 1980s that led to a flourishing relationship with the Soviet Union and Iran, but links with Turkey were strained. Damascus saw its northern neighbour as falling within the US-Israeli sphere of influence and the two nations came close to war in 1998 over Syrian support for the PKK, a separatist Turkish Kurd movement fighting a guerrilla campaign against the central authorities.
Since then, Syria has been looking to bridge the divide with Turkey, taking numerous steps against the PKK, which is considered a terrorist organisation by the EU. In June, Turkish officials said Syrian security forces had arrested 400 people in five cities as part of a huge operation against PKK militants. As well, disagreements over demarcating the Syrian-Turkish border have been put aside and deals have been done over previously disputed water resources.
A free trade zone, activated two years ago, has been a centrepiece for the rapprochement. To date it has largely benefitted Turkish exporters rather than Syrian firms, although officials in Damascus insist that this year it has begun to yield financial returns for Syria. But it is the improvement in political links with Ankara and the protection that entails that has been most sought after by Syria, according to Leon Zaki, an influential Syrian businessman.
"Of all the benefits, most important is the political side," he said. "Syria used to be squeezed between Israel and Turkey. Now that Turkey is close to us and further from Israel, it makes it that much harder for Israel to fight us. Tel Aviv now has to take Turkey's position into consideration." @Email:psands@thenational.ae
