Turkey: Apologize for flotilla deaths or we'll sever ties
By Avi Issacharoff and Barak RavidThe Turkish foreign minister has warned Israel that ties with its decades-long ally could be in jeopardy unless the country apologizes for the May flotilla raid that cost the lives of eight Turkish citizens.
In an article published Sunday, Ahmet Davutoglu told the Turkish daily Hurriyet: "Israelis have three options: They will either apologize or acknowledge an international-impartial inquiry and its conclusion. Otherwise, our diplomatic ties will be cut off."
The Turkish foreign minister said that during his secret meeting last week in Brussels with Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, "We showed them an exit road. If they apologize as a result of their own investigation's conclusion, that would be fine for us. But of course we first have to see it."
Following the flotilla incident, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv, canceled joint military operations and prohibited Israeli military planes from flying in Turkish airspace.
In response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comments that Israel has no intention of either apologizing or paying compensation to the families of those killed or injured, Davutoglu said, "Then ties will never be repaired. They are aware of our demands. If they do not want to apologize, then they should accept an international investigation." He added that Turkey would not wait for Israel's decision indefinitely.
Turkey is currently awaiting the creation of a United Nations-backed fact-finding commission to examine the circumstances of the raid. "We'll arrange our road map according to development there," Davutoglu said.
"We also want to give a chance to the countries who value mending ties between Turkey and Israel," he said, referring to the United States. Netanyahu is set to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama today, and Davutoglu said the meeting would be important in determining the future of Turkish-Israeli ties.
Preparing for the possibility that Israel will not meet Turkey's expectations, he said, Ankara has drafted a road map that includes measures to be taken against the country. The ban on military overflights, he said, was one of those measures.
"Turkey's airspace is fully closed to Israeli military planes. The ban is not implemented case-by-case. It's a blanket ban," Davutoglu said, adding that the decision was made one week after the incident and with the participation of the Turkish military. He said the ban could be expanded to include civilian planes as well.
Subject vs. object
Davutoglu played down concerns in the West that Turkey is distancing itself from its erstwhile allies Israel and the United States in favor of closer ties with the Arab and Muslim worlds.
"The purpose is clear," he said. "The purpose of such claims is to establish psychological pressure on Turkey. Suppressing its foreign policy and confining it to a more defensive position. While we are trying to be the subject, they are trying to keep us as an object in international relations."
"We do not have to convince anybody about our diplomatic initiatives. If we are doing something, it's for Turkey's interests," he added.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman confirmed yesterday that Israel has no intention of apologizing for the raid.
"We don't have any intention of apologizing. We think the opposite is true," he told reporters during a visit to Latvia.
Lieberman said Israel has concerns about Turkey's foreign policy, including Ankara's decision to vote against a new round of UN sanctions against Iran due to its nuclear program. Non-permanent members Turkey and Brazil, which had agreed with Iran to a nuclear fuel swap deal, were the only countries in the 15-member council to vote against the resolution.
"We really see some dramatic changes in their policy. But it's their right, it's their decision," Lieberman said.
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The only apology Israel owes Turkey is that they are sorry the leaders are so uncaring that they order their citizens/soldiers to attack soldiers of Israel knowing that they are merely trying to ensure that the cargo really is necessary food/supplies. After all, the circumstances at this time are less than trustworthy.
Kurdish rebels attacked a Turkish naval base, killing 12 soldiers. Last week, Erdogan's government responded with air strikes on Kurdish positions in northern Iraq that killed 120 people, including a 7-year-old girl. There were no condemnations of Turkey for using "disproportionate" force, and no UN Security Council meetings regarding the latest flare-up of a 26-year conflict that has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people. Some 30 million Kurds live in adjoining portions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Together, these areas make up Kurdistan, the ancient homeland of the Kurdish people, a distinct ethnic group without a country of their own. For decades, Turkey has oppressed its Kurdish minority of 14 million people by forbidding the use of the Kurdish language and other symbols of national identity in state schools and government institutions. A Kurdish parliamentarian, Layla Zana, was expelled from parliament in 1994 and imprisoned a year later for daring to utter a single sentence in Kurdish from the podium. Kurdish rebels attacked a Turkish naval base, killing 12 soldiers. Last week, Erdogan's government responded with air strikes on Kurdish positions in northern Iraq that killed 120 people, including a 7-year-old girl. There were no condemnations of Turkey for using "disproportionate" force, and no UN Security Council meetings regarding the latest flare-up of a 26-year conflict that has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people. Some 30 million Kurds live in adjoining portions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Together, these areas make up Kurdistan, the ancient homeland of the Kurdish people, a distinct ethnic group without a country of their own. For decades, Turkey has oppressed its Kurdish minority of 14 million people by forbidding the use of the Kurdish language and other symbols of national identity in state schools and government institutions. A Kurdish parliamentarian, Layla Zana, was expelled from parliament in 1994 and imprisoned a year later for daring to utter a single sentence in Kurdish from the podium.
"Why are israelis on this talkback site so concerned about the poor Kurds, when you israelis have been helping us to control them? And why do you care so much about the Armenians when your jewish lobbies in the US have been helping us to supress the sick armenian lobbies that insist that they were massacred? They weren't massacred it was a fair fight and they lost, both sides died in that war. We took their land since they left and went to other lands, as you took Palestinian land when the Palestinians fought, lost and left. You should apologise for murdering our people as we have too many things in common, otherwise we will fight you, you will lose and we will take your land and give to the Palestinians. Look at armenia, look at cyprus, look at greece you will be next, as right now 9 Turks are worth 7 million jews. Remember that". Isn't this interesting and revealing? If the Israelis don't want to be "next", they'd better stop having illusions about who their "friends" are and how to keep these "friends" happy.
"otherwise we will fight you, you will lose and we will take your land..." HAHA, you would be obliterated before you even started your war campaign...Israeli army is the BEST in the world!
Israeli leaders established close relations with the Turkish secular elites but ignored the fact that many regular Turks took a rather dim view of Israel. These people never shared the universally accepted notions of right and wrong - for them, Palestinians were right because they were Muslims, and Israelis were wrong because they were Jews; facts never enter into this selective morality. Such a relationship was bound to come to an end, and it's happening right now. It's no accident that Erdogan called Peres a "murderer", but warmly embraced the butcher of Sudan al-Bashir. In fact, nobody in Turkey didn't even seem to be bothered by this outrageous hypocrisy. Let this serve as a lesson to the Israeli policymakers: the relations between countries can last only if they rest on shared values, and Israel can establish such relations with plenty of countries in the Eastern & Southern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and Asia. Israel has plenty to offer to them, and they have plenty to offer to Israel. At the same time, there's absolutely no need to bend over backwards to woo countries like Turkey (the lobbying on behalf of Turkey in Washington was a disgrace!). If the Turks want to have good relations with Israel, they should stop staging terrorist acts against Israel; otherwise, Israel should do whatever it can to defeat any attempt to attack it no matter where it comes from.
Way to go Mr Prime Minister! Why should you apologize for defending your people and your teritory? There seems to be a truckload of pride on the Turkish part to accept that they did intentionally come to provoke and kill the two Israeli commandos. The Turks must actually compensate and apologize to Israel for the trouble they have caused!Not the other way around!
The Turks knew very well why Israel have a blockade on the Gaza coast - in fact the whole world knows it - but as usual , Israel is the culprit. I regret any loss of life in the Middle East, but as some-one has said: If all countries surrounding Israel will lay down arms today, there will be immediate peace in the region - IF ISRAEL LAY DOWN ARMS THERE WILL BE NO MORE ISRAEL. It is as simple as that.
... still does not know much. Turkey under Erdogan has an emergency law that comes down hard on any news report that is embarrassing to the government. There is no free press. YouTube is banned. Few Turks have seen the flotilla video. It is really quite sad.
assuming they will be alllowed to do so. "democracy is the bus you catch till you reach your destination then you get off'" attributed to Erdogan
Turkey knew from the start the situation and knew exactly what they were doing when the sent the aid to Israel. It's like pouring gas on a fire.
What benefit is there to have ties with a warmongering Israel that is a threat to peace in the Middle East? What use is the relationship with Israel anyway other than to sour Turkey's ties with its immediate neighbors such as Syria and Iran? I say to Erdogan - cut ties with Israel already until they are ready to embrace peace.
Do it . I dare Turkey to do it, and to go 100% into teh arms of Assad and Ahmedinajad. Turkey as a nation is beginning to feel the heat from this unholy alliance, and it will reap what it sows. It seems teh Khurds are a formidable fighting force . perhaps ISrael will make a new alliance with them and Turkey can then spend their time defending themselves against that group. Turkey has its collective heads in teh sand and it is time for teh Military to take power and fix it. before it is too late
Do it . I dare Turkey to do it, and to go 100% into teh arms of Assad and Ahmedinajad. Turkey as a nation is beginning to feel the heat from this unholy alliance, and it will reap what it sows. It seems teh Khurds are a formidable fighting force . perhaps ISrael will make a new alliance with them and Turkey can then spend their time defending themselves against that group. Turkey has its collective heads in teh sand and it is time for teh Military to take power and fix it. before it is too late
You should change your foreign minister. This is the only problem.
Dear Turks, why don't you change yours? They started hostilities/provocations.
Turkey demanded an apology. Israel gave it the finger. Now Turkey must cut relations, or be seen as having lost credibility and honour.
Why are israelis on this talkback site so concerned about the poor Kurds, when you israelis have been helping us to control them? And why do you care so much about the Armenians when your jewish lobbies in the US have been helping us to supress the sick armenian lobbies that insist that they were massacred? They weren't massacred it was a fair fight and they lost, both sides died in that war. We took their land since they left and went to other lands, as you took Palestinian land when the Palestinians fought, lost and left. You should apologise for murdering our people as we have too many things in common, otherwise we will fight you, you will lose and we will take your land and give to the Palestinians. Look at armenia, look at cyprus, look at greece you will be next, as right now 9 Turks are worth 7 million jews. Remember that.
No apologies to Turkey! Absolutely not! If you continue on the road of Islam, we will see in 5 years where you will be. I bet it will not be a nice place.
hope this drives home the point.. otherwise we will fight you, you will lose and we will take your land and give to the Palestinians. Look at armenia, look at cyprus, look at greece you will be next, as right now 9 Turks are worth 7 million jews. Remember that.
Turkey is on its way to being ISraels enemy. The Khurds have never attacked ISrael or sent shiploads of exztremists to her shores. Israel will fix the Turkey via the khurds. Fair play what!
Sorry muzzet, the Israelis aren't going to become dhimmis no matter how much you keep blowing hot air. In fact, Turkey will lose more if you choose to become Israel's enemies. The choice is yours.
Of course Turkey is by no means a blameless state in regard of atrocities and murder. The Armenian genocide, the racist murders in Kurdistan, the policy towards the Yezides, is something they definitely have to apologize for. But that doesn't take away the need for an apology for the murder of 9 civil aid workers, that were shot by heavy armed uniformed thugs while trying to defend their boat in international waters with sticks and kitchen knifes against this thugs. Those murderes in uniform shold go to jail, their gang-leaders, i.e. generals etc., as well.
The official Turkish civil aid is handled by the Red Crescent. The aid that Rec Crescent provides to Gaza regularly reaches the needy following the proper ways. Recently famous Turkish TV anchorman UGUR DUNDAR indicated that the millions of dollar worth aid that he has raised in his TV shows had been delivered to Gaza by the Red Crescent with no problems at all. IHH is a private organization that organizes DEATH TO ISRAEL rallies all over Turkey. As a German you may remember the other similar Turkish organization the DENIZ FENERI (lighthouse) which was found guilty of impropriety in German courts.Nobody was killed on the other ships where IHH did not have control.
An apology is cheaper than loosing a friend in middle east. An apology is cheaper than making a friend an enemy. An apology is cheaper than destroying 500 years old relations. Moreover, Turkey's hostility more dangerous than arabs.... Just think about it? Which one is better option? Loosing Turkey and making Turkey is an enemy? Or Taking back its trust and friendship?
Turkey bears all the blame for provoking Israel and sending armed activists to break the blockade on Gaza. If anyone needs to apologize, it is the Turks.
Turkey has lost face for its actions and it wants ISrael to help save it. No way. Turkey can do nothing to ISrael militarily. From a technology point of view Turkey is still in teh stone ages. Turkey needs to man up admit their actions caused a ton of trouble, apologize to theh world, before the Turkish Military stages a coup and gets rid of erdogan who is sinking Turkey into teh Iranioan swamp.
Very difficult for army to do that now. We have too much support from the people and the army. We are the 800 pound gorrilla in the region. You can only rely on your nuclear weapons but we will destroy them in the ground then destoy the rest of your army in two weeks. Let us see, 7 million jewish friends or 1.5 billion muslims to trade with, Hmm... not a difficult decsion. You really need us, we can take you or leave you. Good luck with your decision we have made ours and already looks good.
Just like Israel needs Turkey as a friend Turkey also needs Israel as a friend. In fact the Turkish military is still in good terms with Israeli military. But read Cengiz Candar's article today in Hurriyet and then remember this. If it was not Israel's hard effort to lift the 1974 US embargo to Turkey over the Cyprus invasion Turkish economy would still be in very bad shape today. Friendship goes both ways.
I agree with you "DavidIsrael". But the problem is, "Turkey didnt killed any israeli friends". But Israel killed 9 of its friends... And Turkey, as a friend, doesnt want a lot of thing. Just an apology, compensation for its people who you killed them despite of they didnt have any rocket and otomatic weapons. Is this unfairy demand?
Kurds in Turkey would rather to die but never accept the bloody hands of Isreal what the hell! We might have some problems in Turkey, but Isreal has nothing to do with that and plus beilve me we are more passionate for the Palastinian cause and many of the people in Mavi Marmara were Kurds, if not the majority. Kurds for Palastine!!!!!!!
AZDEI KURDISTAN Free Kurdistan, Remember the Dersim massacre. Israelis Google Dersim Massacre in the Internet.
"We do not have to convince anybody about our diplomatic initiatives. If we are doing something, it's for Turkey's interests," he [Davutoglu] added" If it's in Turkey's best interests to sever ties with Israel then by all means do so. Not quite sure what these apparent idle threats accomplish.
This spat over an apology is short sighted. The greater problem is that there is a growing undercurrent of "angry" citizens in Euro and these citizens are turning against Israel... Turkey's position may not win a position with existing European Governments, but the citizens are loving there stand... EU+Russia+Turkey = trouble
speaks for itself
Peter, As usual you distort the facts for your case. To represent the people on the Marmara as jihadists/martyrs and as having tried to kill the IDF does not actually help the case against actual terrorists or suicide bombers. If they had wanted to kill the IDF soldiers they would have had guns. That they wished to disarm the IDF so they could continue on their way is the only logical conclusion you can draw from their actions. That they would have to be aggressive to do so should hardly have been a suprise. And was killing a number of them then the only practical response? Just a few of the questions for the enquiry; after considering whether Israel was entitled to stop the boat in International waters, from a blockade of very questionable legality and moral legitimacy.
hitting Israel commandos on the head with iron bars and throwing them overboard,IDF rapelling down were not in a position to defend themselves when grabbed and bashed,they needed their colleagues,who were vastly outnumbered to save them. it was a life threatening issue for the commandos. I am not labelling the jhadists/maryrdom seekers etc they did that themselves on Al jazeera
They were damaged by Turkey encouraging actions against Israel by allowing a terror flotilla to embark toward Israel. In reality, Israel should have sunk this vessel, clearly intending an act of violence, NOT humanity. Boo Turkey.
The world must start to consider that there is no real justification for a state of Israel. A bad idea that turned into a worse reality.
Forget the Turks - let them sever ties if they want. Israel will survive without them. If there is an apology to be made, it should not come from the Israeli side!
They apologize for the Armenian Genocide and routine raids on Kurds and then maybe the Israelis might consider apologizing(they shouldn't) for protecting their national security. Greetings and Peace from India.
The JDL already has the perfect answer for the Turks: NEVER AGAIN!
Many other states would have considered murder of nine of their citizens a declaration of war. Israel certainly would have. Why is Turkish life so cheap?
Why would Israel want to apologize to Turkey? If anything, Turkey owes Israel an apology. Now that the truth is out and it is obvious that the Israeli soldiers had to fight for their lives, when will we see Turkey apologize? Understand, Muslims can only be victims. Muslims kill people in … New York, London, Holland, Mumbai, Kashmir, the Philippines, Thailand, Nigeria, Israel, India, Russia, Kosovo, Madrid … They play the"poor victims" who are lashing out ... If you buy that I have a bridge to Jerusalem that you might be interested in.
After Turkey apologizes for sending those 40 goons to provide this incident, Turkey should also have pay the IDF for all expenses. Turkey should also be thrown out of NATO and should be sanctioned until Recep Erdogan is replaced.
Good. Now they will not be able to get spare parts for military equipment to slaughter the poor Kurds.
I wonder how Ankara would feel if the Israeli government sanctioned a radical group to airlift supplies to the Peshmerga?
You mean PKK right? Turkish companies do business with Pesmerga
You mean PKK right? Turkish companies do business with Pesmerga
Obama will apologize - he is used to it
Turkey should apologizing Israel for sending an aid flotilla to our emenies. May be Israel should send an aid flotilla to the Kurds.
lieberman should do Israel a favour and quit as FM, he has been nothing more then a complete disaster
For a country who is always wanting appologies - crying to everyone when they have been wronged and they so brutalize human life and alwayswant everyone to remember how the germans got them, Ironic.
From the people who taught the modern world the meaning of the word genocide.
the Turkish Government are not Israeli ass kissers like we have in Washington.
Hang tough Israel. How can a country that has wontonly killed many of its citizens condemn Israel for the open act of self defense? When Turkey admits to their implication in this event and what the armed protaganists on the boat were trying to do, maybe you can offer condolences, but certainly not an apology.
Fact: they killed millions of Armenians during the Armenian genocide. Did they apologize? NO!
Did you there ? Did you saw with your eyes?? Or Did you research real and honest double side what hapened? Did you check historical documents such as (English, German, Greece, Russia and Armenian too) Hey dont be stupid. First learn trues after talk here bla bla bla.......
"Apologise, pull out his eyes. Apologise, pull out his eyes." -Joyce
Threats are never part of diplomacy. Turkey has chosen its path and that is clearly to close the door on Europe. Turkey needs Europe and not the other way around. The least the government of Turkey should do is to understand Israel's security concerns. The failure of Turkey to halt that flotilla from leaving Turkey was a direct challenge to Israel. Turkey is banking on the US begging Israel to apologize and that is not going to happen as in spite of all the Hamas propaganda, all what Israeli commandos did was to protect Israel.
Maybe Turkey should apologize to the Armenians before demanding anyone else needs to apologize
Turkey wants an apology from Israel? Turkey should apologizes for their atrocities against the Kurds and the refusal to allow non-muslim religions to exist.
The government of Israel is a collection of violent bullies, pathological liars and outright maniacs. And those are their good points!
and the people they kill and occupy acros the ME How many have your heroes killed while the turkish IHH inspired crisis has been going on. Enjoy living in denial?