Why do we not have in our countries an enlightened Islamist leader of the caliber of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister? Why are the Arab leaders who founded Islamist regimes, or who seek to do so, are somewhere between being blind and one-eyed, and none of them is as lucid as Erdogan? Why do I ask? Well, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) orchestrated a peaceful political coup in the most secular military-backed regime in the Middle East. The enlightened Islamist administration in Turkey managed to grow the economy after that by 100 percent during the first decade of this century (the government of Ahmed Nazif in Egypt managed to grow the economy by 7 to 8 percent each year in the same period, but corruption and other mistakes by the regime damaged its economic achievements.) I have been following Erdogan's work from Istanbul to New York and Davos, and even Sharjah. I do not need to provide the readers with his entire biography, and will limit myself instead to his activities in recent weeks. Near the end of February, during an international conference in Vienna, Erdogan said that Zionism, like fascism and anti-Semitism, was a crime against humanity. This caused an uproar that has yet to abate from Israel and its advocates. Yet less than a month later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telephoned Erdogan to apologize for the raid on the Turkish peace flotilla in May 2010, while on its way to the besieged Gaza Strip, and pledged to pay reparations. The Israelis committed countless massacres against the Palestinians and the Arabs in neighboring countries, including the killing of thousands of minors and children, yet never apologized for a single incident. Netanyahu, however, apologized for Israeli piracy in international waters, in which nine Turkish peace activists were killed. So what happened next? Erdogan wants Israel to pay $1 million in compensation for each victim, while Netanyahu offered $100,000. Erdogan promised to stop seeking to prosecute Israeli soldiers in international courts, but he left the door open to the prosecution of the generals who planned the operation. The Turkish prime minister also received a promise from his Israeli counterpart to ease the blockade on Gaza, and announced he would be visiting the Strip soon (Why does President Mohamed Morsi not think about visiting Gaza together with Erdogan? Or are pleasing the United States and Israel, and a meager aid package, more important for the Muslim Brotherhood?) Perhaps I can add that the Israeli apology has caused rifts in the ruling Israeli coalition. While Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, who had opposed the apology, endorsed it because the circumstances have changed, as he said, former brothel bouncer Avigdor Lieberman objected to the apology to Turkey. Lieberman claimed this harmed Israeli soldiers' motivation and morality (what morality?) For his part, Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, did not object to the apology publically, but proclaimed to the Israeli army, “We are with you." So perhaps this means that this extremism of American origin will support the occupation army in every crime it commits in the future. Lieberman and Eli Yishai, current interior minister, had opposed any rapprochement with Turkey in the previous government, and when Danny Ayalon, former deputy foreign minister, pointed this out, the official response was that Ayalon was lying and fabricating. Israeli commentators in both the rightwing and leftwing press reckoned that relations with Turkey would not return to their former state, when Turkey was an ally, and the largest purchaser of Israeli weapons. Israeli commentators even ruled out that ambassadors would return to their posts in both countries after the apology. In the meantime, Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not change anything in his declared stances, or backtrack on statements he made despite pressure from the U.S. administration and urges from Secretary of State John Kerry. Recall that Ergodan is a moderate man who has good relations with the outside world. Turkey, thanks to enlightened Islamist rule, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is now a superpower in the Middle East. But what about the new Islamist leaders in our countries, both those who came to power and those seeking to take office? I ask, but I decline to give an answer, if only out of politeness. [email protected]
