Ben-Eliezer: We stopped snowballing Israel-Turkey tensions
Tensions flared between the allies after Israel launched Operation Cast Lead in Gaza last winter.
By Haaretz Service and Ora Coren Tags: Turkey Israel news Gaza warIndustry, Labor and Trade Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer on Tuesday said that his visit to Turkey achieved its goal of warming ties between the two countries and that the government must now do more to encourage better diplomacy.
"The visit achieved its purpose," said Ben-Eliezer at the end of his official visit. "We stopped the snowball with regard to our relations with Turkey. When we are told that business is getting back to normal, it means the goal was achieved. I succeeded in bringing things back to proportion."
Tensions had flared between the two countries in September after Turkey banned Israel from participating in a NATO air force drill. Ankara further strained relations when it refused to take off the air a television drama depicting Israeli soldiers killing Palestinian children.
Ben-Eliezer on Monday urged Turkey to resume its role as mediator in peace negotiations between Israel and Syria, a day after Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Ankara's impartiality had been canceled out by its "insults and tongue-lashing against Israel."
Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, later confirmed that Israel had requested that his country resume mediating the talks.
Ben-Eliezer added that he would be returning to Israel with a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak that they must do more to help better relations with Turkey and continue contact with Turkish officials.
Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said he plans to invite Barak for an official visit in the near future.
Ben-Eliezer also said that six of the 10 drones Israel agreed to deliver to Turkey in a deal that was delayed are finally ready.
Technical problems leading to a two-year delay of 10 Heron-type drones, have finally been resolved, according to media reports published this week.
Turkey signed the $180 million deal to purchase the Herons from Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit several years ago. Israeli media reported that Turkey was considering scrapping the deal when Israel failed to meet production deadlines.
The Turkish deputy prime minister, Bulent Arinc, said on Monday that Turkey-Israel relations must improve, during a meeting in Ankara with Ben-Eliezer.
"The diplomatic relations between the two countries have known ups and downs, but they must stabilize," said Arinc, adding that the ties must improve with regard to "every issue."
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1. There is no doubt that most of the more or less 20 thousand live comfortable and few are among the top in Turkey. My relatives are doing so so. They live mostly in Istanbul and Izmir. Turkey is not only 2 cities. 2. AKP is not a Jew friendly party despite what is written by AKP detractors in the press. At least their common constituents are anti-Semites and they make this view very loud and clear. Remember the killing of Yasef Yahya (His father in law was my friend). He was killed by AKP supporters only for being Jewish. 3. There is the Turkish intellectual elite that is smart and modern such as the likes of Ismail Cem who passed away here in NY. I support them not akp.
Calm down Israelis, look at the big picture, and don?t get bogged down in day to day politics! I am a Turkish American Jew. My grandparents and many family members still live and live well in Turkey. Turks are smart; they play the international scene to their advantage without abandoning their historic ties. Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize the State of Israel and now after Ben-Eliezer's visit they have agreed to endorse Israel?s membership of OECD (an exclusive club that normally shuns Middle Eastern countries from membership). In return they want peace in Middle East, so that they can advance their economic agenda in collaboration with other states and they know pretty well that Israel is a key factor in this process. Their objective: to be the 6th largest economy in the world by combining Turkish and Israeli know how with Arab capital. Now do you get it?
I was happy to note that sanity had taken over and Israel was salvaging it's relationship with Turkey. The comic tag team of Lieberman and Netanyahu had done everything they could to destroy that relationship, though they only cared to grandstand for their public at home and cared naught for the implications for Israel. Turkey was the first Muslim nation to recognize Israel, and it did so quite early. It has been a good ally and quite helpful to Israel. The fact that Turkey - along with the rest of the world - opposed Cast Lead outraged the Israeli right to the point where they were willing to drive off Turkey and make it an enemy. Indeed, they deemed it an enemy. Sane minds have taken over it seems, and the relationship has been saved.
There is a saying in Turkish when two people are fighting AKIL SENDEN GELSIN (You be the smart one) which means that one of the parties should act maturely and end the conflict. In this case of Turkey / Israel conflict which started with PM Erdogan?s undiplomatic language and uncalled for accusations as well as utter hypocrisy (he praises Sudan?s el Bashir) Israel did what a mature country should have done. Acted rationally and saved the day. I know some Turks will say that PM Erdogan is a hero for doing what he did and praise him but the facyt is that it is hard to make good relationships in the ME and very easy to break. The skill (MARIFET) is to make and keep the good relationships not to break them and Israel did the smart thing.