A Tale of Two Countries :Turkey and Israel

Since Israeli commandos stormed the flotilla The Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship that was carrying relief aid to Palestinians, there has been a virtual nuclear fall-out between Ankara and Jerusalem in terms of diplomatic relations.

Among those nine people who lost their lives, all of them Turkish, was Furkan Dorgan, 19, a Turkish-American from Troy, NY, who was set to attend Erciyes University in Kayseri, Turkey, this fall in the hopes of becoming a doctor one day according to "The Washington Post".

The incident set off protests throughout Turkey. The BBC showed footage of a peaceful demonstration in Beyoglu, the most liberal part of Istanbul. But, similarly, the same television report carried a more militant protest with Islamic overtones in a more conservative part of the city (perhaps Eyup, which is argubaly the most fundamentalist section of Istanbul).

"The Washignton Post" also reported that another American citizen Emily Henochowicz, 21, of Potomac, Md., who is not of Turkish heritage, was seriously injured as she lost her eye due to injury as Israeli soldiers attacked her during the raid.

Nilufer Cetin, among the first Turkish nationals to return home, told "The Guardian" newspaper in London that Israeli troops opened fire before they even boarded the Mavi Marmara.

Even Turkey's traditional rival Greece was affected by the incident, as Michalis Grigoroopoulous, a Greek citizen who was another ship The Free Mediterranean, told "The Guardian" that 'the Israelis acted like pirates.'

There have been those, both on the political right and the left in America, who have defended Israel including Congs. Eric Cantor (R-Va) and Anthony Weiner (D-NY). But support seems heaviest among evangelical conservatives as both Liz Cheney and the Rev. Nathan Tabor of Winston-Salem, NC, one of the Piedmont's leading conservative actists, have verbally expressed support for Israel.

But, there are some who are not so quick to give Israel a proverbial Get Out of Jail Free Card. These include the ever-wise columnist Leon Wieseltier of "The New Republic" who is himself a Jew.

In a column that was published today, Wieseltier, the literary critic of the "TNR" said the following: "The Netanyahu-Barak government has somehow found a way to lose the moral high ground, the all-important war for symbols and meanings, to Hamas. That is quite an accomplishment."

As a Turkish-American who has appreciated Israel's delicate security problems in the past, I call on all Americans to put pressure on Congress to demand an all-out apology from Jerusalem.

It seems quite ironic to me that Israel has now surpassed Syria as a greater security threat to the stability of the region, even though Israel is a democracy and a dictator still rules from Damascus!