Turkey, WikiLeaks, and Fire-Fighting: Ankara's Challenge to Israel

On Wednesday, Huseyin Celik, the deputy leader of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP party, stated that Israel was behind the leak of the WikiLeaks dcouments. Why? To pressure the Turkish Government:

One has to look at which countries are pleased with these. Israel is very pleased. Israel has been making statements for days, even before the release of these documents.

A day before Celik's statement, President Abdullah Gul said that the leak appeared to be "a result of a systematic work with some purpose behind it" without mentioning Israel.

The allegations of conspiracy sit along a different signal. As a deadly fire spread through Israel, killing more than 40 people and using up all of the country's fire-fighting resources, Erdogan extended Ankara's hand with the offer of two aircraft. It is notable, however, that the aid came not through a direct approach from West Jerusalem but through the request of Germany as an intermediary:

So why give the assistance while claiming Israel is behind WikiLeaks to tarnish Turkey? Erdogan's government wanted to boost its credibility in the eyes of the Turkish public, where there are critical views of the "anti-Israeli" standing of the ruling party. Secondly, Erdogan was trying to get an IOU of gratitude.

He succeeded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: I really appreciate Turkey's help, we will find a way to express our appreciation," and added that he believed Turkey's granting of aid to Israel "will serve as an opening to improve relations between Israel and Turkey". Netanyahu later visited Turkish firefighters and offered his thanks again.

Finally, Ankara found a way to reiterate its demands, boosting its autonomy in the region while Israel becomes bogged down. On Friday, referring to the ongoing feud over Israel's attack in May on the Freedom Flotilla, Erdogan said:

This step must not be confused with other problems we have with Israel. Our demands of them are known by now. The ties between us will not improve until they officially apologize and compensate us.