Comment on A New Axis: The Emerging Turkish-Israeli Entente

Submitted by Dimitrios (Australia), Jan 6, 2009 at 03:23

The Turkish-Israel alliance is a superficial one at best that has been brokered by the US. It provides security guarantees so that the interests of the Turkish military establishment do not come in conflict with those of Israel as both states have the strongest military capabilities in the East Mediterranean. The guarantor of this relationship is the United States whose strategic interests are best served in this manner. The Turkish populace at large is sympathetic to the plight of the Arabs at large and are not comfortable with a Turkey-Israel alliance.

As for Greek-Turkish relations, it is unlikely that a full scale war will break out as this will be catastrophic to both countries. Turkey has numerical superiority, however both countries have similar combat capacity. On the whole, when taking into account geography and strategy, it less likely that Turkey will be able to realize absolute superiority given that any conflict would see Turkey on the attack and Greece in defense. Greece's defense capability would likely neutralize Turkey's numerical advantage and relatively stronger attack capacity. Turkey cannot single-handedly win a war over Greece when the Greeks fight in defensive mode; which in all likelihood they will. Greece is not an aggressor nation.

As for Greek-Israeli relations, it is absurd to even consider these two countries coming to direct conflict with each other. That is not likely to happen as the countries do not have national interests which are so intense and which come into conflict so as to warrant a war. If one was to hypothesize direct armed conflict, no doubt many self-appointed experts would be quick to put their money on Israel. However, the reality of the situation is less well known. In my view, Israel could not possibly win a war against Greece if nuclear weapons were not put in use and if third parties (US) were to abstain. Israel has a formidable army for a tiny nation, however Greece is no push-over and has successfully defended itself against armies more superior to that of Israel in relative terms. Israel's superiority over Greece in military terms is only on a per capita basis (i.e. military capacity per person) and not in absolute terms.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".