Turkey is remaining firm in its determination to further embarrass the Jewish state, with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu during a weekend visit to Kyrgyzstan telling the media that if Israel does not apologize for the Mavi Marama commando operation of May 31, 2010, or alternatively accept an impartial international inquiry into the operation, his country will cut diplomatic ties with Israel. This comes after last week’s move in which Turkey announced it is closing its skies to any and all Israeli military aircraft, a move that would complicate an aerial assault against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Relations between Israel and Turkey have been on a steady decline since the counter-terrorism operation launched by the IDF in Gaza, Operation Cast Lead, and the naval commando operation that left 9 Turkish nationals dead further complicated the situation, leading to the threatened break in diplomatic relations with the former staunch secular Muslim ally.
Turkey rejects the legitimacy of the Turkel Commission, Israel’s internal inquiry into the operation, demanding international involvement, once again possibly wishing to control Israel’s decision, to exhibit an air of dominance. Turkey has already recalled its ambassador and appear heading to closer ties with the radical Islamic states including Syria, Iran and Hizbullah based in Lebanon.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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6 Responses
This just in to the newsroom:
Dear Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu,
The Israelis are sorry that you feel you need an apology for us defending our sovereign land and waters. We are sorry that your people didnt listen when we radioed them to halt and they responded that we could go back to Auschwitz. Or when they said the USA should remember Sept 11.
In short, we are sorry that the Turkeys have such stupid people who would want to, in essence, start a war with a sovereign country, which we are. And as any sovereign country we did what we should have done, we boarded the ship and did what we had to do. Well, actually, we didnt do what he had to do. What we should have done was just blown the ship out of the water but since we are caring people (to a fault), we decided to do the more “mentchlich” thing and we were attacked for it.
So, again, we are sorry your people are idiots.
Your friend,
Bibi
We all know the score with this flotilla incident. Looks like Turkey is going all the way in punishing Israel for defending itself against this flotilla. Let’s not forget that Turkey sponsored this flotilla! The hypocrisy against Israel is alive and well!!
They’ve unfortunately aligned themselves with Israel’s enemies. It is therefore quite likely that they will not be happy no matter what you give them. (The Palestinians are also the same way…)They will likely still threaten, to cut off ties, etc… It may be smarter to just bite the bullet and cut off ties now already.
Turkey has been looking for an excuse to cut ties with Israel for a while now. Part of Turkey’s objective in the flotilla initiative was to have a “justified” reason to pull their ambassador and ultimatley cut ties altogether. Since Cast Lead it’s been so obvious. They might as well just come out and say it.
This type of behavior is reminiscent of what the Ottaman Turks treated the Yishuv Ha’Yashan before WWI.
According to reports I read elsewhere, it seems that if either an International, *or an Israeli*, inquiry find fault with Israel then that will also satisfy Turkey.
Cutting ties with Israel will hurt Turkey more than Israel. Israel is Turkeys second l;argest arms supplier, as well as maintaining their aircrast. israeli tourists are a significat part of the industry there. Also, if they cut ties, Turkey can kiis good-bye any chance of joining the EU, as they are trying to do with all their energy.