Israel Matzav

Israeli and Turkish reps meet in Geneva but Erdogan still hates Israel

Representatives of Israel and Turkey met in Geneva over the weekend in a bid to reduce tensions after the Turks provided equipment to fight the fire in Haifa, but Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan is still insisting on total Israeli submission regarding the Mavi Marmara before he will consider restoring any kind of relations between the two countries.

Officials from Israel and Turkey met in Geneva on Sunday to help reduce tensions, according to a CNN report, as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan demanded an apology for the IDF raid on the Mavi Marmara. Erdogan also stated on Sunday that Israel must pay damages to those wounded and the families of those killed during the operation.

Yosef Ciechanover, the Israeli representative on the UN flotilla probe, was reportedly asked by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to travel to Geneva to attend the meeting.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry sent Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu to meet with Ciechanover, CNN reported.

"The two met in order to find ways to promote appeasement and diminish the tension between the two countries," an Israeli official told CNN.

"We regretted the deterioration of the relationship between the two countries and we of course like to see an improvement of the relations," he added.

On Sunday, Erdogan stated that despite Turkey's recent provision of firefighting assistance to Israel's efforts to the control the blazes that broke out in the Carmel region, a new page in Turco-Israeli relations would be possible without addressing the outstanding Turkish requests made in the aftermath of the failed May 31 attempt to break the Gaza blockade."If a hand is outstretched towards us, we will not leave it hanging in the air," Erdogan was quoted by Israel Radio as saying in a speech delivered in central Turkey. He continued, " but we want to see an indication that it is a sincere gesture."

Also on Sunday, Army Radio reported on a Turkish CNN interview with Erdogan, where the leader explained Ankara's decision to send aid to Israel.

"We will not stand aside at a time when people are being killed and nature destroyed," Erdogan was quoted as saying. "A day will come when we will turn the page [on diplomatic relations], but first Israel must apologize for the incidents of the Gaza flotilla and compensate [the families] of those killed."

As if they were all complete innocents and what they did wasn't an act of war. /sigh

Labels: arson, Carmel forest, forest fire, Haifa, Mavi Marmara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:42 PM