The Israeli strike that sparked a storm in Turkey: "A grave provocation"
The conversation between the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Turkish Chief of Staff took place two days after the strike on the Abu al-Duhur base in Syria. Conversely, newspapers identified with Erdogan and the country's most widely circulated newspaper chose not to feature it on their front pages.
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Kane, held a phone conversation on Wednesday with the Turkish Chief of the General Staff, General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu. The call took place two days after the strike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northwestern Syria, located approximately 70 km from the Turkish border. The strike and the resulting tension between Israel and Turkey dominated the headlines in Ankara and Istanbul today.
The newspaper "Türkiye" ran the main headline: "A grave provocation by Israel," with the sub-headline: "Attacked the airport 55 km from our border." The report claimed that Israeli jets bombed a military airfield in Idlib, where radar and air defense systems were slated for deployment, accusing Israel of "pushing for war."
Syrian military analyst Faiz al-Asmar told the paper that Benjamin Netanyahu is acting out of fear regarding the security concept taking shape under Turkish leadership. He argued that Damascus's preparation to join the "Mecca alliance" has sent Israel into a panic, leading to the provocation. The newspaper added that Netanyahu, cornered ahead of the October elections, is igniting a crisis by deploying F-15 jets to strike an airport 600 km away from Israel.
The newspaper "Akşam" also featured the strike on its front page under the headline: "The strike on the border that angered the US." At the top of the page, "Akşam" published a separate item titled "A move against Israel at midnight," which addressed Israeli media coverage of the phone call between Erdogan and US President Donald Trump.
In "Milliyet" and "Cumhuriyet," the strike appeared in short, more restrained reports. "Milliyet" noted that Israeli fighter jets carried out eight strikes on an abandoned base east of Idlib that has not been in use since 2013, while "Cumhuriyet" highlighted the call for "restraint" issued by US Ambassador Thomas Burke.
However, major newspapers close to Erdogan, including "Sabah" and "Yeni Şafak," did not feature the news on their front pages at all. Similarly, there was no mention of the strike on the front page of "Hürriyet," the country's most widely circulated newspaper.
