So Why Exactly Is Turkey Criticizing Israel?

Israel has had fairly friendly relations with Turkey for years.
At least till now:

Turkey's cabinet yesterday discussed steps to take against Israel, whose actions were condemned by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Sunday over its excessive use of force against Palestinians in Gaza.

“It is not possible for us to approve of the recent inhumane practice in Gaza. Children, civilians are being killed with disproportionate use of force,” Erdoğan said Sunday in a speech he delivered to his party's youth branches here.

“There is no humane or legal justification for the attacks in Gaza. We, the Turkish Republic, openly condemn Israel's attitude,” he said.

If only Israel could follow the example of Turkey itself in dealing with the PKK, which demands the right to create a Kurdish state that consists in part of Turkey. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by a number of states and organizations. How has Turkey responded to the PKK attacks?

On 24 October 2007, Turkish fighter jets bombed several PKK targets on the Iraqi side of the border.

Oct 17, 2007: Turkish Grand National Assembly approves a government request for their troops to cross the Iraqi border to attack Kurdish rebels.

Jun 7, 2007: Turkey declares a 3 month martial law in Kurdish areas near the Iraq border and bans civilian flights to the area. Both Iraqi and Turkish sources are either acknowledging or denying whether Turkish forces have entered Iraq. It has been confirmed that 3 Turkish soldiers have been killed by a PKK landmine.

Jun 5, 2007: There are reports of limited shelling and air strikes by the Turkish army attacking PKK bases in Iraqi Kurdistan

May 31, 2007: The Turkish military announced they were prepared to launch and incursion into Iraq. Leader of Iraqi Kurdistan Massoud Barzani announced that the Peshmerga will join the PKK in fighting against a Turkish incursion.

As Michael Rubin notes at The Corner:

And once again the failure of democracies to universally [condemn] terrorism regardless of the terrorists' objectives creates a precedent to hamper the fight against if not justify even more terrorism.

Terrorists seem to stick together--a pity that their victims do not.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Turkey and Gaza and PKK.