“Why would someone with seeming ties to radical Sharia loving Islam want to cozy up with Israel when Turkey wants to go away from a secular society to one under an Islamic thumb?”
There is probably a lot more than meets the eye here. Turkey is in terrible self-induced economic trouble. It used to be a place where Germans, Russians and Israelis vacationed. That has dried up, taking millions of dollars and causing much hardship. There was substantial trade between Israel and Turkey. I suspect that ended as well.
The Turks are trying to renew the money flow. If they don’t then the current government may fall. It is possible that Turkey could split worse than Syria; perhaps into four countries. They are trying to stall that by bringing back better times, which the crackdown on the current internal “enemies” has exacerbated.
Israel can do without Turkey but Turkey needs shekels.
Yep General, there is a very strong chance that this is economic and Erdogan has decided to be nice to his customers and future business associates.
We bought a $3000 rug on a visit to Turkey three years ago.
I was impressed
Two years ago in Port off the ship for a day we sensed the changes that already started and we had a female guide who asked the tour to pray for them because they liked dressing nice, being seen, educated. They liked going around unescorted and not needing men to drive them or require a man to approve a medical procedure.
In other words they did not want a public Sharia society.
I am sure tourism suffers greatly. Like communism, once Islam is in they do not allow anyone to run for political office that is not pushing Islamic rule.
Turkey needs to take its government back or their commerce will mostly die on the vine.