It had been many years since Israeli foreign policy observers had seen such a productive visit as the one we witnessed when Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Israel last month. The Turkish leader met with Israel’s president, prime minister, and other Israeli leaders during a visit that restored the optimistic vibrancy to the relationship between the nations of Turkey and Israel.

At a time when anti-Semitism is growing in Europe and the Arab world, Mr. Erdogan strongly condemned anti-Semitism, including that emanating from margins of Turkey’s press. Anti-Semitism is “like a crime against humanity,” Mr. Erdogan stated. “We will persist in our struggle against it.”

At a time when British academics considered a boycott of Israel, the Turkish leader signed a new agreement with Israel to promote bilateral research and development in the areas of high tech, electronics, space, agriculture, and biotechnology.

And at a time when the global war against terrorism needs reinforcements, Mr. Erdogan and Prime Minister Sharon established a joint anti-terror communication link. “We learned from our experience,” said Mr. Sharon, “that even when intelligence ties are tight, there is great significance to the connection between the heads of state, in order to make sure that there are specific updates on the highest levels.”

Military ties between the two states – already strong – were strengthened further, and Turkey’s defense minister remained in Israel for two extra days of meetings. Turkey signed agreements to purchase Israeli-made unmanned aircraft and is concluding negotiations with Israel’s high-tech aviation industry to upgrade its 1960s-vintage Phantom jet fighters. Such cooperation enhances Turkey’s defense industry by sharing Israeli technological know-how that no other country can or is willing to provide. The Turkish prime minister pledged that defense cooperation and sales between Turkey and Israel “have continued, are continuing, and will continue.”

The Turkish leader brought with him scores of Turkish businessmen who met with their Israeli counterparts. Economic relations between the two countries are already booming. Three power stations are planned to be built in the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon in a $1.2 billion joint Turkish-Israeli venture. Israel’s Tahal Company is providing water irrigation and management systems to Turkey’s arid zones in the southeast of the country. As a result, 45,000 acres of land are being made available to 4,000 Turkish farmers. Beyond those projects, trade between the two nations grew to $2 billion in 2004, up from $200 million in 1993. Some 300,000 Israeli tourists visited Turkey last year, spending there some $300 million a year.

Mr. Erdogan also discussed with Israel’s leaders how Turkey can assist in furthering the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Turkey’s offer to provide energy, water, and construction to the Palestinians in Gaza will help improve the residents’ quality of life after Israel’s disengagement from Gaza.

In recent years, there was tension between Turkey and Israel, particularly when Israel’s war on terrorism led to the elimination of Hamas’s top leadership. Mr. Erdogan’s visit went a very long way to putting those tensions behind the two countries.

The prime minister’s strong condemnation of anti-Semitism also helps calm Jewish leaders in Israel and America who are worried about the growth of anti-Jewish racism around the world. Jewish leaders expect that Mr. Erdogan’s condemnation of anti-Semitism will be repeated frequently by other ministers in Turkey’s government. The sale of “Mein Kampf” and other anti-Semitic publications in Turkey must be met with public and tough censure. (One Turkish analyst suggested recently that the sale of these publications at reduced prices indicates the possibility that they are being subsidized by outside sources.)

With all of the positive developments in the Israeli-Turkish relationship, therefore, it is troubling that some individuals have recently tried to shake the relationship by using questionable studies to show rising anti-Semitism in Turkey’s press.

Not mentioned in these studies is that the articles cited are from relatively marginal, and certainly not the mainstream, Turkish press. It would be comparable to presenting Louis Farrakhan’s Final Call newspaper as representative of American press opinion. This misrepresentation of Turkish attitudes flies in the face of more than 500 years of strong Turkish-Jewish relations and decades of friendly Turkish-Israeli relations.

National Review’s Jim Geraghty is currently reporting from Turkey and responded in his blog to a question – “How influential are these columns” – cited as evidence of increased anti-Semitism. Mr. Geraghty described some of the publications as “small-circulation, not terribly influential, and seen as ‘out there.'” Mr. Geraghty concludes his blog posting by reporting, pretty much along my own experience: “There are Muslim Turks who attended a Passover ceremony thrown by [my successor] the Israeli Ambassador last month. There is anti-Semitism in this neck of the woods, but thankfully, it’s not monolithic.”

Mr. Erdogan’s successful visit to Israel and his strong words against anti-Semitism will serve to push the racism deeper into the woods. The ties between the Middle East’s only two democracies can and will withstand the attacks by the anti-Semites on the margins of Turkish press as well as those who exaggerate and misrepresent their threat.

Mr. Bar-Ner held senior posts in Israel’s foreign service, including ambassador to Turkey between 1998 and 2001.