Could there also be war between Israel and Turkey? The leaders of these regional rivals are becoming increasingly ugly towards each other. Turkish President Erdogan accused Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu last week of “following Hitler’s path”; he should not forget that his “fate will be like that of other tyrants in history.” Netanyahu, for his part, knew: “The anti-Semitic dictator Erdogan, who is carrying out a genocide against the Kurds, supporting the terrorist organization Hamas, oppressing his own people and imprisoning political opponents, is the last person who can lecture Israel.”
There is indeed speculation locally about such a war. That would be terrible, considering both military might. I can’t imagine it, at least not such a shooting war as the US-Israeli war against Iran and Lebanon that has just been suspended (I’m not optimistic that the violence will actually be over). But there is more than a war of words going on: Turkish and Saudi ministers signed the plans for a new rail connection between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, via Syria and Jordan, as an overland alternative to the Strait of Hormuz (which may open today, but hey, what about tomorrow?). It concerns a trade route that Israel is ignoring. And that is also the intention, according to the Turkish Trade Minister in Syria last week. “The reduction of Israel’s influence in the region will bring economic prosperity, peace and stability along with increased political and economic solidarity among us.”
Please note: in September 2023, then US President Biden announced at the G20 in New Delhi the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor IMEC, a trade route that ended in Israel via Saudi Arabia and left Turkey aside. Erdogan was furious: he had passed over Turkey, which had always been the bridge between Asia and Europe! IMEC was expressly intended as a rival to China’s new Silk Road to Europe and as a new path to peace in the Middle East, first and foremost normal relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. But four weeks later, Hamas carried out its massacre in Israel. In response, Israel began its war of extermination in the Gaza Strip and now normal relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel are unthinkable unless Israel takes concrete steps towards a Palestinian state, which it refuses.
The plans for a new rail connection between Turkey and Saudi Arabia leave Israel aside. And that is also the intention
And with that, IMEC with-Israel-without-Turkey is out of the question. Now work is underway on what is also called the new Hejaz railway line – with-Turkey-without-Israel.
Oh, the Hejaz Railway. In 1900, the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II ordered the construction of a railway that would initially connect Constantinople to Mecca via Damascus. Not only for military transport to rebellious areas, but especially for Muslim pilgrims. The intention was to show how Islamic the Ottoman Empire and its sultan were and thus weaken growing non-Turkish (Arab) nationalism. But there were a lot of problems, including labor shortages, uncomfortable terrain and resistance from local Arab tribes. Ultimately, it was limited to a connection between Damascus and Medina, capital of the Hejaz region, which opened in 1908. In the First World War the railway was targeted by the Arab Revolt and the British – Lawrence of Arabiabeautiful movie! By 1920 the end came.
But there are still many remains of the railway line to see. I once opposite the beautiful Hejaz station stayed in Damascus, near the old city. Last December I stood in front of the equally beautiful thing station in Medina. Northwards and in Jordan there is also plenty to do.
If the new railway line does go ahead, it will certainly not just follow the old route. Entire sections are missing, especially in the still unstable post-Assad Syria, the center of the Israeli-Turkish power struggle. The intention is for a feasibility study to be completed by the end of this year and for the project to be completed in three years. Unless it turns into war.
