ANKARA
The co-writer of "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" and the University of Chicago renowned political scientist John Mearsheimer has said that Turkey and U.S. relations would not get negatively affected due to work of "Israel Lobby" behind the scenes.
"To think that Ankara-Washington relations would also be affected negatively due to Turkey-Israel relations is wrong. United States needs Turks. Power of 'Israel Lobby' has enormous power but it does not control US foreign policy," John Mearsheimer told Anadolu Agency correspondent in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
Stating that Israel was very unhappy with the present relationship with Turkey after 2010's Mavi Marmara incident, Mearshimer expressed that even if Israel wants to meet all three demands of the Turkish government, the relations between Israel and Turkey would improve but they would not go back to where they were in the large part.
Showing unsolved Palestine issue as a valid reason, "Until Palestine situation is fixed there is no way for Israel and Turkey to have very good relations," said Mearsheimer.
"With regard to Israeli pressure on United States regarding Turkey, the fact is Israel would like to improve relations with Turkey. What Israel Lobby is actually doing at point of time is that it is putting pressure on United States to have it put pressure on Turkey to improve its relations with Israel. So Israel and its lobby do not want to punish Turkey, they want to get Turkey to improve its relations with Israel. Even if Israel Lobby wants to put pressure on American government to get tough with Turks, it is unlikely that would happen in large part because Americans are so depended on Turkey. It is a close strategic relationship between United States and Turkey because they both have similar interests in the region," said Mearsheimer.
