Natali and Mordi Oknin, detained by Turkish police Nov. 9 for photographing the presidential palace in Istanbul, arrived back to Israel Nov. 18. However the highway to their launch and bringing them dwelling was nothing wanting a saga.
Senior Israeli International Ministry officers spent a number of anxious hours on the evening of Nov. 17-18. Though relieved that the Israeli couple had been launched, they’d no thought the place the 2 had been taken. “We tried to get to them as quick as doable, however we failed,” a senior Israeli diplomatic supply informed Al-Monitor on situation of anonymity. “We had been informed they’d been taken to a police station, however Istanbul has dozens of police stations.”
The Israeli diplomats discovered themselves racing across the metropolis to totally different police stations making an attempt to find the Oknins, whose extremely publicized detention had turned the husband-and-wife bus drivers on a go to to Turkey into on the spot folks heroes and freedom fighters again dwelling.
With Israelis riveted by the story and the household’s teary interviews, what threatened to show right into a modern-day Dreyfus affair had a cheerful finish. The 2 had been discovered secure and sound, pushed to the airport and flown on a non-public jet despatched by the Israeli authorities to Ben-Gurion Worldwide Airport, the place a euphoric, tearful welcome awaited them. The scene was paying homage to earlier returns dwelling by Israelis imprisoned abroad.
The affair, which adopted shortly after the Turks uncovered what they referred to as a “Mossad spy ring” working of their nation, threatened to derail the already brittle Ankara-Jerusalem relationship. As an alternative, the couple’s launch seems to have hit the restart button for the connection.
All of it started when the 2 Egged bus firm drivers from the central Israeli city of Modi’in traveled to Turkey to rejoice her birthday. They went as much as the statement deck of the Istanbul Communications Tower, a well-liked vacationer spot with its panoramic views over the town, snapping a photograph of the presidential palace seen within the distance. They then requested a waitress whether or not that was certainly President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s palace, circled the constructing within the photograph, and posted the snap on their household WhatsApp group to point out the parents again dwelling. Turkish police confronted them instantly, demanding to see the photograph, setting off a saga that threatened to veer uncontrolled when the prosecution introduced it was going to cost the Israelis with “diplomatic and army” espionage.
Israel’s high three leaders rapidly mobilized to deal with the affair and include its potential harm to relations with Turkey, tourism and commerce between the 2 nations, and the picture of Israel’s new authorities. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett labored carefully with International Minister Yair Lapid alongside President Isaac Herzog. The brand new head of Israel’s Mossad David Barnea was additionally thrown into the fray, instantly contacting his Turkish counterpart. The International Ministry, in the meantime, contacted one in every of Erdogan’s closest aides. “As soon as we managed to get to Erdogan’s most intimate interior circle, we understood that the prospects of resolving this disaster rapidly had improved,” a senior Israeli diplomatic supply informed Al-Monitor on situation of anonymity.
On July 12, shortly after Herzog was sworn in as Israel’s eleventh president, he obtained a shocking phone call from Erdogan, who has made Israel his everlasting private punching bag over the previous decade and extra. The decision between the 2 presidents lasted 45 minutes and was described as significantly pleasant. Erdogan displayed heat, optimism and spoke of the necessity to reinstate the 2 nations’ ambassadors and improve the extent of cooperation between the 2 states. Though the Israeli president’s position is basically ceremonial, Erdogan was clearly placing out feelers to gauge prospects of returning into Jerusalem’s good graces — and maybe into these of the US, as nicely.
Herzog was eager. Turkey had been an Israeli ally till Erdogan got here to energy in 2003. Along with his dialog with Erdogan, Herzog issued a collection of public remarks a couple of new web page in relations with Turkey. There was speak of a gathering between them in New York on the sidelines of the UN Normal Meeting assembly, which didn’t pan out, and of different initiatives. In Nicosia and Athens, officers watched this budding romance between their sworn enemy and comparatively new ally with barely veiled suspicions, which they conveyed to their Israeli counterparts. These potential ramifications served to chill Herzog’s enthusiasm, and relations appeared to return to their cool regular — till the Oknins flew to Istanbul.
Following their detention, Lapid launched a flurry of intense diplomacy, underneath a full blackout. He knew that media consideration would pressure Turkey onto a excessive horse from which it might be laborious to come back down. Bennett and Lapid determined to keep away from mobilizing a 3rd occasion, reminiscent of the US, to keep away from public statements and chorus from unhealthy mouthing the Turks.
Moreover, they determined to give attention to the inroads they’d made into Erdogan’s shut circle. Barnea, in the meantime, despatched his Turkish counterparts ample proof that the couple had been merely peculiar vacationers employed as bus drivers. A promotional clip that includes the Oknins, produced just a few years in the past by the bus firm, was unearthed and posted on the web. Bennett and Lapid, adopted by Herzog, gave the Turks their phrase, by way of private and non-private channels, that the 2 weren’t spies. The purpose was to acquire their launch earlier than they had been charged.
Israel insists there was no quid professional quo. “We made them understand that the continued saga would trigger them and us grave harm. The important thing was to persuade them that the couple had been certainly vacationers. The minute they understood that this was a misunderstanding and a coincidence with Kafkaesque potential, most of our work was completed,” the diplomatic supply mentioned.
The incident additionally uncovered fascinating elements of home Turkish politics. At one of many discussions in Bennett’s workplace, the prime minister requested, Who’s in cost, the inside minister chargeable for the arrest, or President Erdogan? He was informed that whereas the minister was managing the occasion, the Israelis can be freed ought to Erdogan resolve to take action.
The reply was right. Erdogan delivered the products, displaying logic, flexibility and humaneness. Instantly after the Oknins landed, Herzog referred to as Erdogan, adopted by Bennett, whose workplace mentioned it was the primary name between Erdogan and an Israeli prime minister since 2013. In addition they thanked him publicly. It now stays to be seen how relations unfold. Will the disaster function a catalyst to recreate the connection of outdated? Most likely not. Within the quick time period, a thaw could be anticipated and a return of the ambassadors recalled in 2018. Within the medium and long-term, there isn’t any realizing. With Erdogan dealing with elections subsequent yr, all bets are off.
