Israel also stirs up militant Islam in Turkey

According to some, Hamas will receive a nasty blow and not recover any time soon. I don’t agree. Hamas will receive a nasty blow regarding their military and will weaken. But their prestige will increase and the Arab world will recognize them. Hamas receives support from an important part of the Arabs. After all, these days the reason for many Arab countries to keep quiet, and foremost Egypt, is Hamas’s radical attitude. But so much blood is shed in Gaza that no matter how much they resist, Arab countries will in the end oppose Hamas whether it’s unwillingly or out of mercy. Even the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO, who does not like Hamas at all and secretly wishes that Israel would wipe them out, is slowly changing its attitude. Even if it is compulsory the PLO supports Gaza. This is Hamas’s biggest gain in the medium- and long-term. The Gaza operation will be seen as the rebirth of Hamas. Israel may obtain important advantages seen from a military perspective, but will encounter a loss in the medium- and long-term. It will not recover easily from this burden.

Looking at my articles for the past two days it is very symbolic that someone like me believing Israel to persist its presence has come to this point. The biggest loss for Israel will be people thinking like me. Today it may continue with its politics as it pleases because of the United States, but tomorrow or the day after they will notice that the balance has changed. Then it’ll be too late to even fix certain things.

Israel has a right to live. Nobody, including Hamas, can take this right away. But likewise, Israel has to acknowledge Palestine’s right to live and return territory, at least the ones invaded over the past 10 years with the purpose of settlement, so they can build their own state.

Militants in Turkey are happy
If looked upon from an indifferent perspective, the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, administration approaches the Gaza crises generally in a balanced way. It does not apply cheap politics even if it were to lose militant votes. It criticizes Israel, but doesn’t break ties. It keeps up contact with countries that have a say in the region. It’s easy to criticize AKP’s each and every step. But we need to accept some realities. Turkey’s diplomatic attempts today are restrained. To expect more would only be imaginary. On the contrary, it seems as if the Gaza events have given Islamic militants in Turkey the opportunity they were looking for, beyond measure. For the first time we encounter such brisk and organized reaction from the Turkish public. It’s helpful to repeat. AKP being the administration puts Turkey, in this respect, at an ease.

The task of saving Turkey from one of our biggest shames in history was bestowed on the AKP. Whoever took that decision, it is not important whether it was the prime minister or someone else, the important thing was to be brave enough to take that decision and show maturity. Turkey bore this shame for 58 years on its shoulders. Now let’s take a look at the past. Think about those who separated Nazım from his loved ones, those who went to prison because they read his poems and were labeled communist, those who were laid off and those who were removed from their office as public servant. Remember those ugly people who went on a communist hunt and those minds who earned their living by opposing Nazım in a merciless and hostile way. A part of these people surely still lives and runs after others, only this time in the name of the struggle against Kurds. Turkey had to wait 58 years to be rid of this unproductive way of thinking. What a pity, that even the government spokesman, Çiçek, decreased the importance and value of restoring the citizenship of Nazım Hikmet by saying, "even UNESCO has announced a Nazım year." Instead of showing braveness he linked it to international developments. It no longer is important whether Turkey has forgiven Nazım and made up for its mistake. Let’s think about whether Nazım would forgive Turkey.