The outcome of the Israeli elections, signaling that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will again lead the government, will probably have no effect on Israeli-Turkish relations, which are likely to remain chilly. Neither side has any political incentive to change course.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan finds himself better placed with his tough rhetorical line against Israel. However, he is attacked for actually conspiring with Jerusalem. Members of Turkey's opposition parties sometimes accuse his Justice and Development Party (AKP) of having a secret deal with the Jewish state. They claim Erdogan's tough rhetoric and feverish temper toward the Israeli state conceals the AKP's true intentions. "Why did you allow NATO to build a radar station in Kurecik?" asked Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition party (CHP), for example. "If you're really against Israel, you stop the radar operations in Kurecik. That's for Israel's security."
