Turkish PM is Hero At Home, but Israel is Striking Back

The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan sat in on a discussion about Gaza at the World Economic Forum in which Israeli President Shimon Peres was also partaking.  Apparently the discussion got a little rough, and Peres came off with the usual "don't blame Israel" lecture heard everywhere.

Adding to that, the Turkish head says he felt he didn't get enough time to speak, and was cut off.  He left saying he would not return to a Davos concave again.

The wonderful man of peace, President Peres, (well that's what we used to think anyway) contacted the Prime Minister later and talked (though people close to the president won't say if he apologized for shouting at the PM).

But suddenly the Israeli press is chortling about Turkey losing lots of Israeli vacation travelers, and possibly their pending EU position.

Amazing.  You stand up to Israel and suddenly you're cut off?

  According to a report in the Jerusalem Post "The Travel Advisory: Israeli tourism to Turkey plunges " supposedly the huge drop in tourism was due to remarks by their Prime Minister, not the huge global meltdown.  In fact, the JPost takes a taunting tone, especially when it notes that some people in Turkey might participate in a global boycott of Israel and that could make things a whole lot worse for Turkey economically.

All I have to say is that we either dropped into a gaggle of nineteenth century vindictive society women or we are looking at a nation (Israel) that has serious world domination problems.

Near the article an ad reminded readers that they could go on vacation to Tenerife (formerly Teneriffe) owned by, you got it, the nation that just caved on the war crimes trials, Spain.

A basically similar article in Haaretz "Israeli tourists stay away from Turkey after Peres row with Erdogan " reveals that there is a concerted effort (supposedly at the  worker's company level or the airlines) to steer Israelis away from Turkey.

Many of the tourism packages are booked through Israeli workplaces. Israel Airports Authority figures put Turkey as Israelis' second-favorite destination for 2008 after the United States, with well over half a million taking the short hop to beaches and cheap shopping. 

"We have suspended all the negotiations we had been conducting with hotels for the upcoming spring and summer in Turkey, until we feel that it is comfortable and safe there and that we are wanted in that country. Travelers are being diverted to Greece and Cyprus," Arkia Israel Airlines CEO Gad Tepper said this weekend. "Workers' committees at companies and large public institutions are canceling their activities in Turkey, and we have cut our flights to Antalya to a minimum," Tepper added. 

But, sure there's no government interference here. Right.

If there is no government interference (given the record on govt. financed propaganda in Israel, I have a problem believing that) then there must be cross business coordination that seems a little bit anti-competitive.

That all being said:

Eyal Kashdan, CEO of the Flying Carpet travel agency, said reservations are down by 50% on last January.

With the world financial crisis why are they pretending that 50% is that bad?

Still it does look, if those who buy the tickets are lined up against Turkey, that it will get worse.

The Haaretz article declared the Davos outburst as the spur for the boycott of Turkey's resorts, but JPost alleges the other times that Erdogan spoke up during the recent war on Gaza was part of the reason, too. 

But Israel isn't done with Turkey yet.

Ehud, show them what we have behind door number 2!

From Haaretz  again "Israel: Erdogan's Davos behavior may ruin Turkey's EU chances".

The Foreign Ministry has learned that senior European Union diplomats were highly critical of the vociferous criticism Erdogan had leveled at Israel over the operation in Gaza and for his support of Hamas. 

According to one report, senior European officials said, "Erdogan wants to be part of the European Union, but now he can forget about it."

 Yeah, a spontaneous revulsion to Turkey arose because he stood up to Israel.  No calls from Israeli gov't offices. Sure.

Searching around I find one report, much like the one at Haaretz at Radio Free Europe.

But a Jerusalem Post analysis "The Region: Egypt and Turkey " implies that the problems with Turkey started much earlier than the war on Gaza, and, though it also talks about EU 'others' who will keep Turkey out of the fold.  Yet, this was all supposed to have developed since December or even last week according to the other 'intelligent' analysts.

But one thing all the reports agree on is that dissing Israel is going to hurt and hurt bad.

So says Israel.

(Well, at least if they have anything to say about it.)

tags: israel  turkey  peres  erdogan  davos  wef  economic warfare  

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