Who needs Israel
Israeli military’s deadly assault against the Gaza aid flotilla is expected to have serious repercussions in economic and trade ties between Ankara and Tel Aviv. As Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay confirms thousands of reservation cancelations by Israelis, the Defense Ministry is pondering the annulment of joint military projects. The Israeli military raid on a Turkish aid ship headed for Gaza that left at least nine dead is expected to have serious repercussions in economic ties between the two countries.
As tourism seems to be the first area that will be hit by the unprecedented tension, defense deals could also be put under scrutiny by the Turkish government. Speaking to journalists in Ankara on Tuesday, Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay confirmed many Israeli tourists are canceling reservations.
“We have no problem with the people of Israel,” Anatolia news agency quoted Günay as saying. “There are cancellations. We understand this.”
Turkey has had problems about Israeli tourists “since Davos,” Günay said, referring to the Jan. 29, 2009, spat during a World Economic Forum conference that resulted in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan storming out of the hall at the Swiss mountain resort.
“This year, there were reservations and Israelis were coming. Turkey is a country that offers safe travel and holiday for Israel, near the Middle East. This won’t change. It will be the same after the Israeli people oust that intolerant government [of theirs],” he said.
Günay put the number of first cancellations at “between 10,000 and 20,000.” However, Başaran Ulusoy, chief of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, said “a minimum of 70,000-80,000 tourists from Israel will be lost.”
“Turkey is the United Nations of international tourism,” Vatan newspaper quoted him as saying on Tuesday. “The safety of the lives of Israeli tourists is under the guarantee of the Turkish Republic. Everybody should continue their holidays without fear.”
Cruises changing course
Vatan reported Tuesday that cruises carrying Israeli tourists to destinations such as Alanya and Marmaris have changed course in the aftermath of the Israeli assault and are now heading toward Cyprus or Rhodes. The Mirage-1, which was carrying 420 Israeli tourists to Alanya, has changed course to Rhodes, while a total of 50,000 reservations have been canceled in Bodrum and Marmaris, the newspaper said. However we need to know that who will want to serve the killer of innocent people. Certainly not Turkish people.
Speaking to Vatan, Sururi Çorabatır, head of the Mediterranean Tourist Hoteliers Association, said another cruise carrying 850 tourists to Alanya is now heading toward Greek Cyprus.
The cancellations came after the Israeli Foreign Ministry advised its citizens not to travel to Turkey. “In Bodrum, there were already few Israeli tourists due to political tensions,” Yüksel Aslan, the local director of Brontes, a travel company, told Doğan news agency. “According to our talks with Israeli agencies, two planes per week were to land at Bodrum, for reservations that start on June 20.”
“The Royal Iris, a cruise that was carrying tourists to Marmaris, has canceled its trip,” Doğan quoted Şükrü Tugay, the managing director of the Marmaris Port, as saying. “A total of 20 other ships that were to come throughout the year have also canceled their trips.”
Tourism is only one of the economic casualties of Monday’s assault. Roughly $20 billion of joint projects in energy, agriculture and water, including a pipeline to carry gas, electricity and fiber optic cables from Turkey via Israel as far as India, are at risk following the raid, Vatan newspaper said.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül said Tuesday that he foresaw no problems in the delivery of the unmanned surveillance aircraft Turkey is purchasing from Israel, according to the private CNBC-e channel. Nonetheless, the Undersecretary of Defense has begun debating the pros and cons of canceling the joint TARP project. The $140 million project was planned as an enhancement of the capabilities of Turkey’s F-4 2020 and F-16 fighter jets.
