Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan poses a threat to Israel, and not to Israel only: “A war between Israel and Turkey?,” by Joseph Puder, American Thinker, November 15, 2025:
Erdoğan’s Turkey poses a major threat to Israel, far more of a threat than the Islamic Republic of Iran. The existential threat to Israel from Iran is primarily from its nuclear potential and readiness to use a nuclear bomb against the Jewish state. During the 12 Days’ War of June 2025, Israel and the U.S. delivered a major blow to Iran’s nuclear facilities, although not a complete setback. With the weakening of Iran and the Shia crescent due to Israel’s devastating blows to Iran’s proxies — Hezb’allah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza — and with Iran’s loss of a free hand in Bashar Assad’s Syria, Turkey is fast becoming the patron of Syria’s new jihadist president. The authoritarian and megalomaniacal Erdoğan is seeking to create a Sunni-Muslim crescent around Israel and resuscitate the glory of the Ottoman Empire….
The Trump administration does not regard Ahmed al-Sharaa as a jihadist; Washington believes that he has genuinely been transformed from an Al Qaeda operative with a ten million-dollar bounty on his head, to a true moderate, ready to make peace with all of its neighbors, including Israel. In Israel, few are convinced. They saw how Ahmed al-Sharaa failed to stop the massacres of the Alawites in Latakia, and of the Druze in Sweida governorate.
Turkey is vying for America’s most advanced supersonic stealth fighter jets — the F-35 — designed as a multirole aircraft for air superiority….
By law, the United States is committed to guaranteeing Israel’s QME, or Qualitative Military Edge. If Turkey is allowed to buy the most advanced fighter jet now being produced, the F-35, this will deny Israel that QME it has enjoyed up till now, as the only country in the region with F-35s in its arsenal. But for Donald Trump, Erdogan is a “close friend.” How can the Turkish president be denied?
Turkey is expanding its military might overseas. It now has bases in Somalia, Libya (airbases at al-Watiya and Mitiga, and a naval base at Misrata) and in Syria. That is bad enough for the IDF; a Turkish base next door in Gaza would be intolerable. The Israelis must insist that Turkey be kept out of the Strip, even if this angers Trump.
Israeli-Turkish relations were not always adversarial. In fact, during the 1990s, there were excellent relations between the two countries, marked by military and intelligence cooperation, political and strategic alignment, and close economic ties. Turkey was also the first Muslim-majority state to recognize Israel, on March 28, 1949.
But those were very different times in the history of Turkey. Before Erdogan, the secularist heritage of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the great reformer of modern Turkey, was still dominant. The Turkish generals were the keepers of the Kemalist flame; they made sure that the politicians hewed to Kemalism, and discharged any officers who showed too great an interest in Islam. Erdogan flipped the switch; ever since he came on the political stage, starting as mayor of Istanbul, then becoming prime minister, and now as president, he has been undoing the Kemalist legacy. He has built tens of thousands of mosques — 9,000 just in the period from 2003 to 2009, and close to 2,000 Imam Hatip schools, high schools, where religion is a major part of the curriculum. Erdogan used the attempted coup by the military in July 2016 by as an excuse to imprison generals, and to fire judges, university rectors, teachers at every level who were judged to be insufficiently Islamic.
Will Trump be willing to turn Erdogan down on his request for F-35s because such a sale would undermine Israel’s qualitative military edge? Will he realize that those F-35s, in Turkish hands, could be used to suppress the minorities in Syria, especially the Kurds in northern Syria, whom Erdogan wants to keep hemmed in so that they cannot link up with the Kurds inside Turkey? Will he come to recognize that Turkey may still be a member of NATO, but because of Erdogan can no longer be considered part of the West?
Wellington says
I wish the Byzantine Empire still existed.
GE says
Me too, Wellington.
gravenimage says
Me too…
Horatio says
That the idea of selling him F35s is even being suggested is horrifying.
Gandalfs Trouserpress says
I agree, it’s madness.
gravenimage says
I think the US has refused to do this–so far, at least.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
So if he starts a war against Israel, or if Israel is forced to attack, say, a Hamas target in Turkey, will that put Israel at war w/ NATO, and w/ US?
gravenimage says
Turkey should have been ousted from NATO years ago.
somehistory says
Men design and make traps for rats. Now , do they design and make huge traps for the rats to use against them?
KufarDawg says
Kemal Atatuk, secular? Really?
https://www.greek-genocide.net/index.php
I’ve read Ataturk ordered the razing of a city of Greek Christians.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Yeah, I never bought the claim that he was secular. Merely abolishing the caliphate didn’t make him anti-islamic
gravenimage says
The fact is that the Armenian Genocide–which really targeted *all* Christians–was started by the Ottoman Empire, then continued by the “Young Turks” and by Ataturk. There were many things they disagreed on, but slaughtering Christians was not one of them.
Gandalfs Trouserpress says
Has Trump been drinking the same Kool-Aid as Tucker Carlson?
He doesn’t seem to understand the Islamic mindset. Honour and truth do not concern them. Total victory is what they seek
Tony says
The West’s Leaders including President Trump fail to fully comprehend the totalitarian, demonic threat of Islam against all Non-Muslims as taught in Islam’s Quran(Quran 3:54; 7:99; 9:5, 29, 111, etc.). Islam has consistently threatened mankind for over 1000 years, but we still fail to make Islam, its Mosques, its Schools, its Organizations, etc. illegal in the West despite the terrorism, discrimination, segregation, violence, etc. inflicted on Muslim and Non-Muslims. Islam is a satanic, criminal enterprise!
Allah’s Islam, a CRIMINAL-TERRORIST-GANG ENTERPRISE and a MURDEROUS-DEMONIC CULT OF BELIEVERS, Terrorist Muslim Soldiers for satanic Allah, continually fund, promote, and practice ideological subversion, propaganda, bigotry, discrimination, deceit, industrial-scale slavery, human trafficking, intimidation, supremacy, segregation, hatred, incitement to violence, criminality, genocide, victimhood, censorship, and terrorism as taught in Islamic Law, Sharia, and in Islam’s Qur’an(Qur’an 5:14,35; 8:60; 9:41, 88, etc.).
Deceitful Allah stirs hatred against Christians until the resurrection day when Qur’an 5:14 instructs, “And some of those who say, ‘Surely we are Nasara (Christians),’ we took their covenant. So they have forgotten a part of what they were reminded of, so we have stirred up ENMITY and HATRED among them until the resurrection day. And Allah will inform them of what they were doing.” See also Qur’an 60:4.
As taught by Allah, Muslims are supremacist terrorists for Allah with their MONEY and with their LIVES. Allah in Qur’an 49:15 states, “Surely the believers[Muslims] are only those who believed in Allah and his messenger. They do not doubt, and they performed jihad with their MONEY and their LIVES for the sake of Allah. Those are the truthful.” Allah in Qur’an 4:101 says, “…Surely the infidels(Non-Muslims) were your clear enemies.”
ALLAH’S MUSLIMS are a greater TERROR than diabolical Allah. Allah in Qur’an 59:13 says, “You[Muslims] are a greater terror in their chests than Allah. This is because they[Jews & Christians] are people who do not understand.” Islam must be banned as illegal, and we have the legal right to defend ourselves from Muslim violence. As a result, Non-Muslims are marked for death by Islam and its Muslims. Allah in Qur’an 9:29 commands, “Engage in war with those who do not believe in Allah nor in the last day. Nor forbid what Allah and his messenger forbid, nor believe in the religion of the truth among those who have given the book until they pay the jizyah out of hand and they are subdued.”
Again, Islam is a totalitarian and supremacist system of lies and deceit because Allah, the best deceiver, is the actual source of Muslim deceit. Allah in Qur’an 3:54 says, “And they deceived, and Allah deceived. And Allah is the best deceiver.” Allah in Qur’an 8:30 says, “…And Allah is the best deceiver.” Allah in Qur’an 13:42 says, “And indeed, those before them deceived, so to Allah all the deception…”
Albert Van Rijn says
The photo of Erdogan with the image behind him that makes him appear to have red horns is no coincidence.
OLD GUY says
Erdogan is just another Islamic snake in a Brooks Brothers suit. Why in the hell do we keep selling these Islamic countries high tech. weapons? I know! the leaders own stock in weapons manufacturing companies. BIG PROFIT out ways lives and common sense.
OLD GUY says
Erdogan a snake in a Brooks Brothers suit. There is no reason to sell Islamic countries high tech. weapons. But our leaders own stock in weapon manufacturing and the profits are BIG.
ploome says
the target is the BIG SATAN,,,
meanwhile, they need to stroke, the BIG SATAN to help (even unwittingly ) destroy the little satan,,,
isolated and fighting heroically
ploome says
the target is the BIG SATAN,,,
meanwhile, they need to stroke, the BIG SATAN to help (even unwittingly ) destroy the little satan,,,
isolated and fighting heroically
gravenimage says
Erdogan The Magnificent?
……………………………………………
I’m sure this is how he sees himself. That the US considers him a rational actor is absurd–but longstanding.