Surprise: Ben Eliezer - Davutoglu meeting accomplished nothing
A Wednesday meeting between Israeli Minister of Industry and Trade Binyamin Ben Eliezer and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accomplished nothing, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.Few details have emerged about the meeting, but Foreign Ministry Spokesman Burak Ozugergin said that the two discussed "the latest state of relations."The Turks are also pushing back against attempts by Prime Minister Netanyahu to hold them responsible for Ben Eliezer being at the meeting:
During the meeting, Davutoglu "once again relayed the steps that Israel needs to take relations further," Ozugergin told The Associated Press.
Lieberman's comment led Netanyahu's office to release a statement confirming the meeting but explaining that it was initiated by the Turks and was "unofficial." The statement did not name the Turkish participant and said the failure to inform Israel's foreign minister was due to an unspecified "technical reason."I would guess that Turkey insisted on meeting someone other than Lieberman, and that under pressure from Obama, Netanyahu obliged. Ben Eliezer is known as a Turkophile so he was chosen.
In Ankara, Ozugergin denied that the meeting was initiated by Turkey, insisting that the "request came from the Israeli side."
Another Turkish government official said the two ministers did not make any arrangements for a further meeting, but did not rule out the possibility of more talks in the future. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without prior authorization.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:34 AM
5 Comments:
Hardly a surprise... I wonder why Israel even bothered. After all, the Turks instigated the incident with Israel, they blamed Israel for it and they refuse to accept responsibility for the outcome.
Israel-Turkish relations are never going return to what they were before.
Turkey is now claiming that Israel (Ben Eliezer, I guess) HINTED that Israel would give an apology to the families of the dead and compensation of some sort.
Turkey has turned into Iran with ongoing lies and assorted other creepiness now.
Turkey is a lost cause.
Israel is going to betray its own soldiers who risked their lives defending the country?
I hope it isn't true. However, nothing surprises me anymore.
What could go wrong indeed
Eliana:
Turkey is not the lost case yet, unless Israel plays directly to Erdogan's hands.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry should do something to make Erdogan himself looking stupid and humiliated in the eyes of the Turkish population. Given the big mouth of the latter and smartly using a couple of confirmable "leaks", this could be done.
Any public or semi-public apology on Israel's behalf would only turn Erdogan into a popular "macho" so much loved in the Muslim societies.
JPost is reporting that Israel actually agreed to apologize, and I sincerely hope that this report is wrong. To do so would be a huge mistake. Turkey is apparently also no threatening to close its airspace to commercial air traffic from Israel, as well.
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