Ever since the Justice and Development Party came into power in Ankara, many changes took place regarding the Turkish policy in the Middle East that went hand in hand with the great strategic transformations following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Turkey discovered its inner force and ability to play a role in its surroundings, based on a reconciliation with itself and its history that was despised by extremist nationalists. In addition to reconciliation with itself, it strove to make a reconciliation with the countries that emerged from the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, after it despised its peoples and blamed them for its lagging behind and its failure in facing the West. Ankara discovered that it can conciliate between its Western trend and its relations with the United States, without passing through Tel Aviv. This was evident in many stances by Turkish officials, which included their objection to the launching of the US land invasion of Iraq from their land, and their prevention of US fighters to depart from the Angerlik base. It was also evident in their stance on the Palestinian cause; after their support of Israel was unconditional and criticizing it was prohibited, and after the relations between the two countries reached the extent of military and security strategic coordination for besieging the Arabs, many obstacles emerged in the alliance between them. Turkey strove to maintain Iraq's unity for fear of witnessing the separation of the Kurds in the North and the formation of an independent state that would reach Anatolia and Syria, while Israel encouraged this Kurdish trend and supported it with weapons, funds, and training in order to inconvenience Syria and Iran. Tensions in the relations between the two countries were intensified when Israel waved the threat of activating the Jewish lobby in the United States for holding Ankara responsible for the Armenian massacres if it continued to criticize its policies in Palestine. This is one of the background elements of PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's withdrawal from the Davos Forum to protest against Shimon Peres's “insolence”, in addition to the continued Israeli training of the Kurds North of Iraq. Seymour Hersh wrote in the New Yorker in 2004 that the tensions between Turkey and Israel and Ankara's decision to recall its ambassador from Tel Aviv were not due to the Israeli policies in Gaza but “to the role played by Tel Aviv North of Iraq.” Turkey's alleviation of the weight of its relations with Tel Aviv enables it to play the role of the great regional state in the region, starting with the exceptional relations with Syria and Iraq, and not ending with the historic reconciliation with Armenia, away from the burden of the history of a new state in the region whose only concern is to confirm itself through its permanent hostility against this region and breaking it down to small sectarian states that are linked to it and its policies. With the alleviation of this burden, Ankara rejected the Israeli attempts to besiege Iran with enemies because of its nuclear program, announcing that it previously coexisted with the Soviet nuclear weapons and it is currently coexisting with the Russian, Israeli, Pakistani, and Indian weapons. It does not see any menace in Tehran's program, and is striving with the others to keep it peaceful, without working on changing the regime or resorting to striking a blow against Iran, which will have catastrophic repercussions in the region. The most recent Turkish reply to Israel's hostile policies in the Middle East was its refusal to take part in the Anatolia Eagle air maneuvers, which led to their annulment by the United States, which is a third party in these maneuvers. The “Anatolia Eagle” is soaring away from the Star of David, which has accompanied it since the establishment of the State of Israel. So until when will it soar?
