Since David Ignatius of The Washington Post broke the story on Oct. 16 that Turkey revealed to Iran the identities of as many as 10 Iranians working for the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, there seems no doubt on the Turkish side that Ignatius is being used against Turkey by Israel or pro-Israel US government officials to establish a conspiracy to degrade its credibility and cut short its rising star as a pivotal player influencing regional dynamics.

Many in the Ankara beltway are convinced this exclusive story is almost a personal matter between Ignatius and the Erdogan government. They recall the infamous “one-minute” incident, when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lost his temper and stormed offstage during a discussion on Gaza in January 2009 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Erdogan blamed Ignatius, the moderator of that panel discussion, saying he had not given equal time to Erdogan as was given to Israeli President Shimon Peres, and that Ignatius wasn’t privileged enough to tap the shoulder of a prime minister of any country in that way.  

That background, however, says nothing about whether Turkey shared this critical intelligence with Iran or not. Turkish government officials’ denials also don’t necessarily mean that what Ignatius reported was wrong in substance. As one source told Al-Monitor, “Words like betrayal, treachery and perfidy aren’t heard much inside NATO — but they are very much in the air now, and attitudes toward Turkey are changed. It’s appalling — and disgraceful.”

It can be a misleading assumption that there is a real change in attitude toward Turkey as result of this breaking story. Nothing happens instantly, or coincidentally, in affairs of state.