Israel Matzav

Boogie talks Turkey

Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe (Boogie) Yaalon told Israel Radio on Wednesday morning that he has had it with talking to Turkey. According to Yaalon, the Turks want an apology and not reconciliation.

Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya'alon said on Wednesday that Turkey's insistence on an Israeli apology for last year's Gaza flotilla raid does not allow reconciliation talk to progress, Israel Radio reported.

In an interview on the Israel Radio program "This morning", Minister Ya'alon said that Ankara continues to demand an apology, payment of reparations to victims, and the removal of the Gaza blockade, which even the United Nations has authorized as legal.

This comes after a spokesman for Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Tuesday that the minister has no plans to go to New York this week to hold talks with the Turks about settling the Mavi Marmara issue.

The spokesman said that while Ya’alon will be traveling abroad next week – to South America and then to the US to meet with Jewish organizations – those visits were not related to Turkey or to finding a formula that would put an end to the crisis in Turkish- Israeli ties that resulted from last May’s Gaza flotilla, during which nine Turks were killed after attacking IDF soldiers trying to implement the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Ya’alon’s denial that he was headed to New York for talks with the Turks, follows a report that appeared Wednesday on the website of the Turkish daily Hürriyet saying that Israeli and Turkish officials were expected to hold a new round of talks this week, just prior to the release of the UN Palmer Commission’s report that investigated the incident. .

Ya’alon has been involved in negotiations with Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirliog˘lu about finding a formula that would put an end to the issue and enable a return to normal ties.

Read the whole thing.

Hopefully, this is the end of the 'apology.'

Labels: Ehud Barak, Gaza blockade, Gaza plenty, Mavi Marmara, Moshe Yaalon, Turkey, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:48 PM