One can expect them not to ratify as Islamic pressure generated by Syria will increase. Israel's military presence in Turkey is also strategically vital to the United States and Europe. The Dardanelles, controlled by Turkey, are the essential routes of passage from the Mediterranean to the North. Turkey is the stabilizing pillar of the Balkan region, whose conflicts in Macedonia, Serbia, Slovinia and most critically, Bosnia, cannot tolerate an additional conflagration should it emerge in the largest of the area's countries, Turkey. Sharing borders in the east with Syria, Iraq, Iran and Russia makes Turkey pivotal to American interests and may in fact be a major deterrent to Iranian ambitions.
Jewish memories are short.
Many have probably forgotten the massacre at the Neve Israel Synagogue in Istanbul, one of the worst acts of terror to have occurred outside of Israel. This tragedy took place only a few years ago. That event should have initiated serious actions by our State Department and other Western governments. The terrorists were Islamic fundamentalists who were able to find haven in democratic Turkey. The fact that the victims were Jews must have blinded the pro-Arab bureaucrats and diplomats who determine America's foreign policy.