Turkey PM: Netanyahu has worst government in history of Israel
Erdogan tells Al-Jazeera that Lieberman is Israel's 'greatest problem' and urges the Israeli public to 'get rid' of him; he also denies Western definition of Hamas as a terrorist movement and declares peace impossible until they are brought into negotiations.
By Haaretz Service Tags: Israel news Turkey Hamas Benjamin NetanyahuTurkish Prime Minister Tayyep Recep Erdogan on Thursday decried Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government as the "worst" in the history of Israel.
The once close ties between Israel and Turkey began faltering following the war in Gaza two years ago and spiraled to an unprecedented low following Israel's deadly raid on a Turkish-flagged aid flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip last May.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. |
| Photo by: Archive |
In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Erdogan said that Turkey would uphold the chill in relations until Israel relented in its refusal to apologize for the raid and compensate the families of the nine pro-Palestinian activists killed aboard the Mavi Marmara.
"As long as Netanyahu's government does not change its policies, it cannot expect us to change ours," Erdogan told Al-Jazeera.
Erdogan added that Turkey had no interest in renewing any of the accords it had signed with Israel and would also consider refreshing relations once Israel acceded to its demands.
Erdogan also deemed Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman Israel's "greatest problem", reacting to the latter's remarks that Turkey's demands for apology were cheeky ("chutzpah"). The Turkish premier told interviewers that the Israel public should "get rid" of Lieberman, who he called a "despicable" man.
"It is up to them, not us" to unseat Lieberman, said Erdogan, adding: "If they don't, Israel's problems will only get worse."
Erdogan also voiced support for the Hamas rulers of Gaza and denied the Western definition of the group as terrorists.
"Hamas is not a terrorist movement. They are people defending their land. It is a movement that entered the elections and won," he declared, adding that the group has never been given the chance to rule as a democratic regime.
The Turkish premier added that Hamas must be brought into negotiations for a permanent settlement to the conflict, declaring that without their input Palestinian-Israel peace was impossible.
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His alignment with terror groups and personally sponsoring gza flotilla terrorists speaks for itself. Erdogan is the worst turkey leader since the armenian genocide...
First of all, I'm not a fan of Lieberman or Netanyahu. But Erdogan is just trying to distract people from real problems. Kurdish and Armenian problems are still unresolved. He doesn't do anything about them. He thinks he is invulnerable now but one day same criticisms will be targeted at Turkey. Then what is he going to do?
Israel has had unbelievable patience.
QASSAMS and MORTARS recently were launched into Israel - Erdogan doesn't notice it. When Israel starts operation, Erdogan will shout : "You are killing GAZANS" (as it happened before). Shame!
It's absurd what erDOG is trying to doThe support zturks are giving for almost all islamic terrorist regimes place tukey as one of them.Lieberman is a leader with vision who is able to see the line this jihadists are drawing on the sand,that's why they don't like him.Turks must be isolated from the west they are no different from Iran now.
Turkey's mouth is resembling Iran, yes. I wonder: Eventually Iran and Turkey will have to enter a collision course in their wish for hegemony, and between their shia and sunni constituencies respectively. Or are they just going to be "allies in Jihad"? Both have similar size and similar population; and both have a sizable middle class, and young population. Iran chose to demonize the West, and Turkey, still a NATO member, is bringing a big headache to noth the EU and NATO. If it says Hamas is not a terrorist organization, then it really has sided with Islamist terrorism, and everything has to be re-evaluated. Israel, unfortunately, is seeing Turkey's blowing all bridges back to mormalcy and respect.
I would tell the Turkish people to get rid of Erdogan, because the more he talks, the more he exposes his stupidity. Hamas and Kurds are in the same bracket, Erdogan, you are stupid.
wait and see.
Lieberman is a fascist and a complete fool. Israel made a mistake of history, and piracy by attacking blue Marmara ship.Israel will remain alone at the end of the Middle East
They will always be a supporter of islamic terrorists regimes.In history they were never a reliable ally.Only Lieberman realize that.Turks are trying to make a conflict between Israely politicians.
turks being not a reliable ally of who? Before shooting the wrap make it clear. you speak nonsense.
Netanyahu was a miserable failure the first time he was Prime Minister. He is worse this time. His refusal to help the US maintain the fiction that it was acting in good faith for peace will ultimately do immense harm.
We can take Erdogan's rant with more seriousness, when he invites the PKK, into his government :-)
"Netanyahu has the worst government in the history of Israel" Only less worse than the present Turkish Government.... Enough. Let the Kurds chuck this regime to the 4 winds !
the ANC was once regarded as a terrorist organisation. The perservered and endured critism, hate, torture and many more atrocoties where heaped upon them. Today I am proud to be a fully fledged South African living in a peaceful country. So call Hamas to the table, negotiate with them and everyone in the ME might just be pleasantly surprised.PEACE to ALL.
South Africa was a racial problem a problem that could be mended. Hamas on the other hand is a Islamic religious terrorist problem filled with so much hate . How do you negociate with a mob that wants to kill and destroy the Jewish state.
What wars are you talking about ? What country are you talking about.....you speak in riddles.
At least this Israeli goverment realised who they were dealing with . A lesson to be learnt never trust the Turks.
The time to send Lieberman and his Knesset members into the opposition and bring Kadima into the government instead, is long overdue .... And the best of all worlds.
If they will listen that will make our Job easy. We will have Hamas and Hezballah do the job and if needeed we will help them.
Liberman and Erdogan are equivalent to each other. Both are oppressive. Both are against opposition. Both cannot stand any criticism. Both are trying to silence opposition. Both are targeting opposition, inciting hatred and dividing the society. Erdogan and Liberman are exactly the same. They are also both corrupt. Erdogan is involved in major bribery scandals, nepotism, stealing, and cleaning up his son's murderous act while driving with no license and causing death of a Turkish artist. Erdogan politically, economically and socially is the biggest shame and threat to Turkish people. So as Liberman to Israeli people.
Not only, this is one of the worst goverment in all of western democracies. Destroying the credibility of Israel and its image in the world
so, that tops anyone else for sheer stupidity and being dangerous for being undeniably mentally insane.
thats smart politics...lol when little ahmedinejad it gone, and he will be soon, and the ayatoldya is also gone, and iran is free, turkey will be left out in the cold as the PERSIANS will want nothing to do with the islamisct erdogan. erdogan is leading turks to their worst ever gotvernment...they are becoming pariahs before the world.
So Erdogan believes an organization that kills civilians indiscriminately and launching rockets daily for 8 years is not a terrorist organization? Should come to no surprise considering he defended the Sudanese president from genocide charges "because he's a muslim and muslims obviously don't do that"
The PKK is not a terrorist group. Erdogan and dovutoglu are morons and the people of turkey should get rid of them. If erdogan had not supported the marmara, none of this would have happened. Because erdogan is trying to mess in israel's business, this unfortunate event happened. Hamas is CLEARLY a terrorist group. Egypt knows it, the PA know it, and of course, israel knows it. go suck a moose erdogan. and lastly, I curse your mustache erdogan.
israel is a threat to world peace
Loser has to hold his nose and apologize for Flotilla fiasco
Wait till Lieberman takes his turn as Israeli PM....
Is Wikipedia available in Turkey? Because if it is, I would like to recommend a certain page to Erdogan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas_Charter If he reads it and still doesn't see Hamas as a terrorist group well then he is either antisemitic, hella stupid, or a terrorist himself.
wikipedia is available in turkey. when you come to izmir , tell me, we enter the internet together. turkey is not republic of banana. .
If wikipedia says so, it must be right... (NOT!..)
I will visit Izmir this summer to sit at a Pasaport cafe sipping my tea with my Gevrek and Tulum cheese. Maybe you can show me how you can enter YouTube. If you can then I will show you the videos of PM Erdogan kneeling in front of Fethullah Gulen.
to Izmir and pasaport cafe. you follow very carefully david whats going on in turkey, dude,but seems you missed u tube ban isnt there since months ago and you enter just directly
it was the best government i would be worried.
If Erdogan wants to "Get Rid" of Lieberman, Lieberman must be great. It is Erdogan the Turkish people must GET RID OF. He's delusional, and will take Turkey down the slippery slope of no return.
If Erdogan thinks Lieberman is a dangerto Israel, he mustbe not only delusional,but afraid of HIM.For his fortitude and fearlessness to call a spade a spade.Contrary to what you say Erdogan bey, it is you,and your regime that is dangerous for Turkey You are going down the slippery slop and unfortunately taking along the "liberal" turks who disaprove of you too.They will put up with you fro now,but beware the backlash in the elections.
Unfortunately, erdogan will stick to his terrorist IHH and will "repent"- on his provocative actions, since this is his ideology and platform. There are some dreamers in Israel who enjoy fooling themselves that with some dialogue and giving away some land Arabs will become our friends. We gave Egypt back to the last centimeter, and Egypt still considers Israel the Enemy and continues to expand and maintain a gotesque military machine for the day of reckoning -when they are still dreaming of conquering Israel and driving the Jews into the sea. Bibi runs and grovels to Mubarak- but Liberman won't. He calls a spade - a spade. Bibi would apologize to Erdogan and pay him compensation for Erdogan's terrorist actions - but Liberman won't. Bibi won't support Liberman against Erdogan - but Liberman is a big boy and will certainly come back and again say the right things at the right time
Yes Netanyahu's government is the worst in Israel. What he cannot say is that so is Erdogan's government. And in addition to say that HAMAS is not a terrorist organization! Someone must really must be blind. Maybe he is, since he wants to demolish a statue not to his liking and world view,in east of Turkey . Just like Taliban!
Netanyahu's government is not the worst in Israel. The previous government, including Olmert and Livni has already made certain of this. Your other comments on erdogan & Turkey are RIGHT ON.
Your critics are just jealous because Israel can only dream of such a PM.
Starting from Bekir Coskun and Emin Colasan, Oktay Eksi (All 3 were forced to let go from Hurriyet for their opposition to AKP), Tufan Turenc, Mehmet Yilmaz, Mehmet Tezkan, Kadri Gursel and many more believe that AKP and Erdogan government are the worst even to rule Turkey.
No body gives a damn about the columnist you listed at all in Turkey. Turkey has been doing great thanks to the government of Erdoğan, and that's why we keep electing him over and over again.
public of turkey hates this authors. really, in this subject ı am serious. erdogan represents majority of turkish public. in turkish language has a expression : lick his palm.
You can say all you want, but at the end, we will keep re-electing Erdoğan. That's what Turkish public wants!
..of Lieberman. Thats up to Israeli voters not a Turkish arrogant PM. and a snake... Why did he brutishly attacked Pres. Shimon Peres in Davon. Natanyahu was not a PM then. Lieberman was not the FM. Olmert was the PM and Livni was the FM. If Livni gats a majority to form next government will Erdogan appologize to Livni and admit that he behaved in a non cicvilized manner in Davon. Its was Erdogans theater act as he walked out instead to discuss the matter as its done in democartic countries. Davon is a dialog meeting not ceremonial walk outs.
It was because Israel has been slaughtering Palestinians for decades.
a spoon of his own medicine. oh, let's remove PC.
TURKEY IS DOING GREATLY UNDER THE BRILLIANT PM - HAMAS ARE PEACE LOVING SCHOOL GIRLS WESTERN TOURISTS HEAR AND SEE THE TURKISH PM EXCELLENCE - BUT RATHER GO ELSEWHERE FOR VACATION
Don't you worry about Turkey. It is in good hands finally.
When the brutal Hezbollah murderers are let go free and a life saving professor of medicine like Mehmet Haberal is in Jail Turkey can not be in good hands.
... is right where he belongs... He killed the last prime minister Ecevit and tried the same with Mr. Erdogan. Kidneys stolen from asylum seekers were not enough... Is that what you call a "life saving prof of medicine"?
Dr. Haberal saved the life of the wife of an AKP minister. The rest of your post are just your fantasies. Mr. Haberal was recently awarded a prestigious award by Harvard school of medicine to which he could not attend because he is in jail. And BTW: he i snot charged of anything so far. Not for kiling anybody nor for stealing kidneys as you mention. Only suspect for planning to overthrow the government but no official charged for over 1 year. This is Erdogan's ILERI DEMOKRASI or advanced democracy.
That should do it to his ranting versus not only Netanyahu,but our fearlesss Lieberman. Erdogan with his boe of contention he will not let go, forgets not THE DAVOS FISCCOhe created like a puerile kid.
before attacking others solve the kurdish and armenian problems
I agree with you about the fact that there is a Kurdish problem in the southeastern part of Turkey and current government is taking necessary steps to solve this problem in a democracy axis but I strongly object your claims suggesting that there is an Armenian problem.
A brutish neanderthal...that was the inspiration for Europes voting Israel to be the most likely to start a war...congratulations Israel!!
By backing Hamas and saying that they are not a terrorist organisation, what Erdogan is doing is weakening Fatah. He is really helping israel by dividing the palestinians so that they have no unity to form a state. I guess it's good to have stupid politicians running Turkey.
Do you think, you could solve the problem without bringing Hamas to the table as well?
Whether you agree with Liberman or not, he is the only politician with a clear cut plan on how to deal with the issue. All the other ones talk and say things, but they have NO PLAN. I predict that lieberman will be the PM at some point, since NONE of the other parties have any sort of action plan.
And I'm scared stiff it may happen.
Finally, Israel will have a LEADER who will defend Israel, not kow-tow to the enemies, in weakness. He would tell the fraudulent Palestinians where to get off. They act like they have the upper hand. Lieberman would bring them to reality.
And why BB(NO FOOL HE) Picked him as an FM. Erdogan is just not only jealous,but sufferes from delusions of grandeur--that he does not deserve giving him EVEN THE TIME OF DAY.
If Turkey succeeds in being the key military and economic nation in the region ,having Lebanon , Syria and Iran as allies, the whole ballance of power will dramatically change in the Middle East , with grave consequencies for Israel . The sooner the Israeli / Palestinian conflict is solved,the better, otherwise the next war could be devastating for ALL countries involved.
Absolutely agree, Is the worst government for people against Israel. It is a real nightmare of government for many pro-Palestinian regimes.
...if Israel announced support for the PKK as a legitimate organisation defending their land and organised a peace convoy to deliver them resources? I'm guessing not well.
Erdogan just repeats what UN and US said several times: Palestine is not Israel's land. So, Hamas who defends their land can't be a terrorist organization.
Turkish Kurdistan is part of Turkey and Turkey has sovereignty over the land. Gaza is not part of Israel and Israel has no sovereignty over the land. You are comparing apples with eggs. Sending a convoy into Kurdish Turkey would violate its sovereignty. Sending a convoy to Gaza would not violate Israeli sovereignty, because it doesn't extend to Gaza.
You often make decisions based on your own experience and history,. And when the Israelis pulled out of Lebanon they got Hezbollah and 40,000 rockets and when they pulled out of Gaza they got Hamas and 20,000 rockets.
Turkey has become the world's 18th largest economy. The 6th Eurpoen economy. The average income went up from $2,000 to more than $11,000. You can find Turkish products and services in almost every county in the world. Turkey has great business and political relations with all of its neighbors. What have Mr. Bibi and Mr. Lieberman done for Israel???
he is certainly entitled to do those things but you have to recognize that despite some successes he is taking turkey down a risky path
supplies from Iran increased 50% last year. Why should Turkey become Iran's enemy on Israel's behalf. Iran is Turkey's neighbor and supplies it with huge amounts of energy. The world has changed. The US will no longer be able to dictate to everyone what to do, even at the expense of their own economy.
that more countries need to fight the US at the UNSC, especially as regards their blind spot for all things Israel. That veto has probably prevented peace more times than anything else either the Israeli or Palestinian side has done. It has made it impossible for the world community to act with any sort of authority in trying to solve this problem.
Turkey does not see Iran as a threat. These people have lived side by side for thousands of years. As far as the U.S. goes, make no mistake about it, Turkey has an excellent relation with the current admin.Western values??? Turkey is a very free country and outgoing. I have been there. You could do anything you can do in Italy or Germany.
all this to say, Turkey can do all it wants, but mh's original post about Erdogan beging a great later should also be nuanced with the risks he's taking in the name of his country
Turkey alsi is concerned for Iran to have nuclerr bomb and they are trying a different way to stop or lets say get it controled by the west. Nobody wants Iran to have a nuclear arms capability. One must try different ways to stop it than the existing way been used for a long time which had not helped so far.
regarding Hamas,how do you even start negotiations with a faction who vows to destroy Israel.Yes they were voted in fairly originally,as they had done more for Gaza residents AT THAT TIME compared to Fatah,they were not voted in on a mandate to not recognise Israel or to destroy it.. And that is why the blockade(except for weapons) was untenable.The people of Gaza suffer from Hamas and Israel now.
Erdogan is right. Netanyahu and his government is a disaster for Israel and make up the worst government in the history of Israel. And Erdogan is probably the worst Turkish PM in decades.
Erdogan is the best and most influencial PM we haver ever had since Ataturk.
Erdogan is a corrupt, Islamist leader who would do anything for money. Just like Erdogan offered a large of of Turkey's land to Israel right after Davos crisis with Israel. Even this shows that Erdogan's God is money. He has no bond with Turkish people and Turkish independence. His only loyalty is to money and to Islamists. Erdogan is influetial only in Hamas and Hizbollah circles. If he was so influential, why would he be told off by Greek PM, German chancellor, Liberman and many others. Deal with it, Erdogan is the most corrupt, most ignorant, most laughed at PM ever in Turkish history.
Plerase do not maention Ataturk's name and Edogan together. Ataturk would not like that. If you want to mention Erdogan with someone then you can use Said Nursi maybe. Or the Mullahs who murdered Lieutenant Kubilay in Menemen in 1927.
You never speak the truth, don't you. You are defending the party that did all the bad things to your family and all the non-muslims. Come to reality for once, for God's sake...
They also did some good for the country. It is not easy to go from a religious monarchy (SULTANATE) to a modern democracy. Even the French revolution suffered from that type of issues such as Rp0bespierre executing Danton etc. However today AKP is taking Turkey back to middle ages when they are trying to take over the justice system, banning alcoholic beverages to be served at restaurants or ordering the junior high school kids that boys and girls should have a minimum of 45 cm distance between them at all times and eat at separate lunch halls etc. Additionally let me remind you that while Turkish economy grew under AKP the foreign trade is still in huge deficit. The imports are much more then the exports. The stock market (IMKB) is fueled bu8 hot money which is mostly volatile foreign investments. So just be careful.
He's a smart man, and I think most of the Israeli public agrees. How did we get ourselves into this mess again? Oh yeah, from comfort come apathy. Us Israelis might be too happy with our "situation" here, not realizing that the pot will boil over eventually.
if Hamas won the election, why did it have to "take over" Gaza? The wind whispers "US and Israeli-backed coup attempted by Fatah, the losers of the elections ..."
his positive view of Hamas is at best absurd and at worst disingenuous. No state can entertain negotiations with an entity that is pledged to its destruction.
you negotiate with the side that wants to destrcut you. How did WW1 and WW2 end? Peace agreements amonst the nationas who had wowed to wipe the other off the world.
By closing on Germany and having it surrender and negotiate. Hamas is not interested, as it stated so many times over.
Who is like A DOG with a BONE who will never let go HIS humiliation CAUSED by HIM alone during the DAVOS when like spoilet BRATinstead of a stateman up and left the meeting as a SLAP in the face of President Peres because he could not MONOPOLIZE the discussions when time alloted had EXPIRED.A very bitter man indeed. To attack the character of LIEBERMAN shows hoe desperate Erdogan IS.Additionally to call Hamas normal shows how skewed his thought process IS.
At least Netanyahu isn't persecuting his ministers and trying his generals for treason for trying to keep the country democratic. Erdogan might think Netanyahu and Liberman are the problem. they're not nearly as much of a problem as he is himself.
Israel is doing her best to make Mr. Erdogan the new leader in Middle East. So he is just taking advantage of the situation. I fact, his leadership might a kind of win win win situation (as economic cooperation and unions) to the region contrary to Ahmedinejad’s never ending Jihad calls and North African dictatorial rules.
He figures Hamas, which is responsible for numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity, by launching rockets daily at civilians for 8 years, and for sending terrorists to explode and maim countless civilians is not a terrorist organization. Do you know why? Because they share the same religion. He even defended the Sudanese president from genocide charges by stating that "He's a muslim and muslims don't do that". Took me a minute to put my eyes back in their sockets, followed by a historical laughter.
of a major world power?
and he's not even Israeli !
for ousting Islamist governments is not good.
You should study! Hamas already and has been acknowledging that if Israel agrees to give the Palestinian a state based on the 1967 borders plus East Jerusalem as their capital, Hamas would recognize a Jewish state and neigjbor. This was months ago and late last year. Israel said no
Hamas also immediately declined this statement..Hamas gives mixed messages..There is no Israeli military in Gaza so why attack from Gaza into Israel..?
Why Israel give back east jerusalem and accept 1967 border. Jordanians attacked first even though israel warned them not to do then they lost everything. Now Israel needs to accept 1967 border You must be joklng
I believe they said while they would never recognise israel, but they would accept a temporary truce. during this truce they will build up their terror capabilities, so that they kill more jews later. not the most exciting offer for israel as the jews do not want to be kiled either now or later. can you imagine ?
Hamas stated clearly, that in exchange for a state in the 67 borders and E Jerusalem, it would agree to a 10 years truce, and would still not recognize Israel. After those 10 years it would continue the attacks. Do you seek to dull our senses and fill our minds with propaganda? We're reading news, you know..
When Erdogan agrees that the PKK are a legit organization and not terrorists then perhaps we could accept that Hamas isn't a terrorist organization.
You shouldn't compare those two things with each other.
have you ever had a palestinaian president for israel?answer is no and possibly never. So until then do not even bring that up...
The Kurds have a justifiable claim to that land.
What good would an Arab be if he was the president of Isreal but never mentioned he is actually an Arab, (no honour), and to all the things to oppress Arabs for the sake of Israel?
Turkey had in his history kurdish prime ministers and even kurdish president. PKK is not the speaker of the kurds, Hamas is an elected party. Regards.
If Erdogan doesn't like it, then it's surely a good sign. Keep up the good work Avigdor!
The why is that OBVIOUSLY Lieberman IS JOLLY well doing something worthy to disturb Erdogan that HE cannot do anything about barrring the criticism. Tghat it is is water off DUCKS back is a given. Israel not only will keep Avigdor Lieberman inspite of the BULLY BOY IN TURKEY.Why? because Lieberman is Israel's SALVATION and that makes Erdogan nothing but the WOLF barking at the door of Israel that HE cannot break down the door to devour Tiny Israel.Let Erdogan PERISH in his dreams
I would tell the Turkish people to get rid of Erdogan.
Why would you get rid of one of the best and honest leader this world has ever seen?...We need leaders who is going to fight for the truth and nothing bet the truth.
Best and honest leaders the world has ever seen? After that comment I cannot take you seriously. Lieberman is also honest and hes one of the few politicians that actually speaks his mind. Like it or not, thats honesty.
Whenever something comes up, you hypocrites are bringing the armenian issue. How about we bring up the issue of 5 million !! murdered ottoman turks during the great war? My great grandfater and relatives were slain in Igdir by armenians. Lets compare it.
American people love JEWS, but dont like power using Egocentric Israeli Politicians. American people dont know about TURKS, but American politicians dont like Erdoghan's cabinet, they love Army, US govmt love to work with Turkish army not Erdogan but they saw this theory is not work proper, so they chose the israel back balance diplomacy, but US need Turkey to shephard the ME, contact wt IRAN US interest is more more valuable than israel or turkey so US try to est. balance politics in ME and it doesnt work. Israelis and turks are not happy about american strategy, Already American people are not happy about US ME policy. American people DO NOT WAQNT TO WACTH DEAD BODIES IN ME,
The Ottoman Empire sided with the Axis powers during WW2, they fought in state to state combat with other nations. Those killed in this type of conventional conflict is not murder. Thus 5 million, more like 3 million killed (which is still alot), were not all murdered. I'm not doubting many Turks were murdered in villages by opposing armies, which happens in almost every war in human history, but 5 million were not murdered.
Please be careful about HISTORY Wrong DATA makes DIALOG to fight Peace
Murat was referring to WW1 -the Great War.
Sorry, by accident, I wrote ww2 instead of ww1. But my argument still stands.
And...also my mistake (Central powers)