Israeli Tourists "Not Needed" In Turkey, Says Erdogan
The Turkish-Israeli relationship is close to hitting rock bottom, writes Tulin Daloglu. The two countries once had good relations, relative to Israel and its other regional neighbors, but just last week the Turkish Prime Minister's declaration that Israeli tourists were no longer welcome once again exemplified bad blood between the nations.
As political Islam becomes gradually more dominant in the Arab Muslim world, Turkey’s religiously conservative government seems to be losing interest in building bridges with Israel. In other words, the Turkey-Israeli relationship is close to hitting rock bottom.
Last week, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a baffling statement. “We do not need Israeli tourists. We have successfully filled their places, and in the past year, 31 million tourists visited Turkey.”
