Erdogan Outraged By ‘Terror’ From the PKK, But Not From Hamas

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has since last year been engaged in a charm offensive directed at Israel. His essential antipathy to the Jewish state has not changed, but the Turkish economy is in a mess, with an 80% inflation rate, and he thinks that there is much to be gained from cooperation with Israel in a variety of fields: on energy (he hopes to convince Israel to route some of its natural gas production to Europe through Turkey); on high tech (where he recognizes that the Jewish state is a world leader); on water supplies (including waste water management, recycling, desalination, and the production of water out of the ambient air); and on tourism (just between July and September 2022, the number of Israeli tourists visiting Turkey reached a record 632,000, which translates into billions of tourist dollars annually). In March, Erdogan invited President Herzog to meet him in Ankara. Handshakes, smiles, promises of better ties. The result was that diplomatic relations were fully restored; the Israeli ambassador is in Ankara, and Turkish ambassador is now in Tel Aviv.

There is, however, one insurmountable obstacle to a full restoration of trust between the two countries. Ever since 2020, Erdogan has provided Turkish citizenship and passports to several dozen of Hamas’ top operatives, making their travels easier throughout Europe, and their ability to hatch plots against Israel more secure. The Israelis keep asking the Turkish government to expel the Hamas members to whom it has given refuge; the Turkish government claims these members of Hamas are not “terrorists” and that Hamas itself is not a “terrorist organization,” even though almost every country in Europe and North America (a.k.a. the civilized world) has recognized it as such.

Hamas’ stated goal, set out in its Charter, is to destroy the Jewish state and to replace it with a Palestinian state. An ADL summary of Hamas’ terror activities since its founding in 1988 can be found here:

Hamas has been the main organization perpetrating terrorist attacks in major Israeli cities with civilian targets including shopping malls, cafés, buses, and hotels. Its most deadly attacks include the March 2002 suicide bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya, killing 30 and injuring 140 during their Passover seder; the August 2001 suicide bombing of the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem killing 15 and injuring 130; and the June 2001 suicide bombing at the Dolphinarium nightclub in Tel Aviv, killing 21 and injuring 120, most of them youths.  Civilian fatalities from Hamas terrorist attacks include Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, Palestinians, and other individuals.

Since 2000, Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups, have launched thousands of rocket and mortar attacks into Israeli population centers. In the early years, Hamas rockets reached vulnerable southern Israeli cities such as Sderot, Ashkelon, Netivot, and nearby environs, landing in or near private homes, schools, daycare, and recreation centers.  In recent years, Hamas rockets have reached well beyond the south, reaching much of the country, including Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, and Ben Gurion Airport.

Hamas has also constructed hundreds of smuggling tunnels in past years, both underneath the border between Gaza and Egypt as well as dozens of “terror tunnels” which enabled its operatives to reach inside Israel, with the intent to carry out terrorist attacks and kidnappings.

Hamas derives its name from the Arabic acronym for “the Islamic Resistance Movement” in Palestine, or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya fi Falasteen. It was founded in 1988 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a fundamentalist preacher aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza. Hamas’s stated goal is the elimination of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian state governed by Islamic law.

The original Hamas covenant, issued in 1988, is replete with antisemitic incitement, including referencing the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion that charges Jews with an international conspiracy to gain control of the world. In Hamas’ worldview, religious precepts forbid a Jewish state in the area known as Palestine, and they assert the Jewish people have no true connection to the land of Israel. As its founding covenant states: “The land of Palestine is an Islamic trust… It is forbidden for anyone to yield or concede any part of it… Israel will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it.”

Yet despite Hamas’ eliminationist goal of destroying the state of Israel, and despite its extensive history of murdering civilians gathered in restaurants, at Passover meals, in shopping malls and cafés, in busses and in cars, Erdogan wants the world to believe that Hamas is not a “terrorist organization” and he is unapologetically determined to help the group, by allowing a few dozen of its leaders not only to be given refuge in Turkey, where they are free to plot attacks against Israel, but also by providing them with Turkish citizenship and passports.

But about the “terrorist” status of the Kurdish People’s Party (PKK), Erdogan has no doubts.

The bomb that went off on Istiqlal Street, on Nov. 13, just a hundred meters from Taksim Square in the very heart of Istanbul, left six dead and eighty-one wounded. An enraged Erdogan has blamed the Kurdish PKK for the bombing, and has gone on a rhetorical rampage against it that will no doubt end with a rounding up many dozens of PKK members.

The hypocrisy is staggering. The PKK is a “terrorist” group, as Erdogan says, but Hamas – which is even more ruthless, with a much longer and bloodier record of civilian casualties than the PKK (the PKK far more often than Hamas selects purely military targets) — is a group he actively supports He has provided Hamas’ dozen ’ top leaders with refuge in Turkey, provided them with Turkish citizenship and passports, that make it much easier for Hamas leaders to travel around Europe.

Israel has repeatedly asked Turkey to expel the Hamas members currently given refuge, but Turkey has turned Israel down flat. “Turkey refuses Israel’s request to deport Hamas terrorists,” by Kristina Jovanovski, The Media Line, November 13, 2022:

Turkey’s foreign minister said Turkey declined a request by Israel to deport Hamas members, according to reports, amid fears that Ankara’s rapprochement with Israel will suffer after the electoral victory of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

If Turkey thinks — correctly — that Prime Minister Netanyahu will not be as interested as were Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett in a rapprochement with Turkey, wouldn’t it make sense for Turkey to be more accommodating, as a way to win Netanyahu’s support for that rapprochement? Erdogan’s refusal to expel the Hamas members, as Israel has requested, and as Netanyahu will demand, is certain to undo all of his efforts since 2021 to draw closer to Israel, in the hope of improving Turkey’s economic situation.

Mevlut Cavusoglu reportedly said last week that Turkey did not accede to a request that it deport members of Hamas, made last month by Israel’s outgoing Defense Minister Benny Gantz during a visit to Ankara.

“We did not meet a demand regarding Hamas. We do not see Hamas as a terrorist organization,” said Cavusoglu, according to the Turkish news outlet Sozcu.

“We do not see Hamas as a terrorist organization.” Well now. Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu has made Ankara’s position clear. But the United States begs to differ. So does the U.K., Canada, Australia. So do all the members of the EU. So do Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. For all of them have recognized Hamas (which is merely an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood) as a “terrorist organization.” On the other hand, such countries as Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba find nothing wrong with Hamas. Is that the galère in which Ankara wants to find itself?

Omer Özkizilcik, a foreign policy and security analyst based in Ankara, told The Media Line that Turkey is hoping to become a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, and believes deporting Hamas members could jeopardize that.

“We remember that, before Turkish-Israeli relations broke down, Turkey was an honest broker between the Palestinian side and the Israeli side, and I think Turkey is looking forward to re-establishing that,” he said.

There is no chance of Turkey being a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians as long as it continues its support of Hamas. Israel doesn’t regard any country that helps Hamas, as Turkey now does by providing refuge and citizenship for its leaders, as an “honest broker.” There is no possibility of such a role for Turkey until Hamas members are forced to leave Turkey. In expecting Netanyahu to simply accept the present arrangement of Turkish support for Hamas, and to nonetheless treat Turkey as an “honest broker” between Israel and the Palestinians, Erdogan and his cronies are hallucinating.

Özkizilcik added that since Turkey does not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, there would not be a legal framework to deport its members.

But Mr. Özkizilcik, that’s just the point, Turkey should do as all the civilized nations of the world, in Europe and North America, have done, and classify Hamas as a terrorist organization. Voilà – there’s your “legal framework.” Or is Turkey privy to some exculpatory information that has escaped the notice of the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the members of the E.U.? How do the bombs set off by Hamas differ from those set off by the PKK, a group which Turkey has no trouble classifying as a terrorist organization?

Diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey were fully restored over the summer with Israel appointing an ambassador to Turkey in September, and Turkey naming an ambassador to Israel on Friday.

Let’s not forget the Turkish diplomatic onslaught against Israel in 2021, before the recent thaw in relations. During the 11-day war in May 2021 between Israel and Hamas, Turkish officials became unhinged. They accused Israel of being entirely responsible for the violence (forgetting the hundreds of rockets that Hamas first lobbed into southern Israel). Erdogan called Israel a “terror state” and demanded that the UN take action. The Turkish Foreign Minister told the UNGA that Israel “is solely responsible for the violence and must be held accountable for its crimes.” And at a session of the UN Human Rights Council, he called Israel’s actions fighting Hamas “crimes against humanity.” At a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Turkey proposed an international military force to be deployed to protect the Palestinians. Turkey’s Vice-President Fuat Oktay said the Muslim countries – all 57 of them – must take a clear stance against Israel. Erdogan spoke to Putin by phone, urging that the “international community” should “give Israel a strong and deterrent lesson.” Erdogan asked Pope Francis in another call to support sanctions against Israel. He also spoke to King Abdullah of Jordan, and told him that the Israeli attacks against Palestinians were “inhumane and an attack on all Muslims.” He spoke as well with the Emir of Kuwait, the P.A.’s President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. His Foreign Minister spoke with his counterparts in Algeria, Pakistan, and Russia, again denounced Israel for its “crimes” and demanded collective action.

And yet after all of this malice and unhinged rage directed by Turkey at Israel, President Herzog went to meet with Erdogan this past March. Perhaps he thought that the mercurial Erdogan really had turned over a new leaf, so why not accept his invitation to visit him in Ankara, if such a meeting might lead to a renewal of diplomatic relations? Of course, had he thought things through, and been less of a leftist, Herzog might have quietly responded to that invitation thus: “The time is not yet right for such a visit. I am afraid it will be impossible for me to meet with President Erdogan as long as Hamas leaders are given both Turkish citizenship, and refuge in Turkey.” That would have provided a salutary warning to Erdogan.. But Herzog missed that chance. Instead, he went off to Ankara, had a “warm” meeting with Erdogan, and this ultimately led to the recent exchange of diplomats. But what good are those renewed diplomatic relations if Erdogan still insists on providing support to leaders of the terror group Hamas, whose entire reason for being is to destroy Israel?