Erdogan wants threatens to visit Gaza
In an earlier post, I reported that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials wanted to visit Gaza when conditions were right. Now Erdogan is using the prospect of such a visit as a crass threat to try to induce Israel to apologize for the IDF defending itself. The Turkish prime minister has expressed his desire to visit Hamas-controlled Gaza after a trip to Egypt, a move he will reportedly make if Israel refuses to apologize to Turkey over last year’s deadly flotilla raid.If the Egyptians want to let him in through Rafah, that's their problem, but I would expect the IDF to treat him no differently than it treated the morons on the Dignite al-Karama yesterday. He deserves no better. He's nothing but a thug.
“I wish to go to Gaza. If the necessary conditions emerge, I have a desire to go there,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told a press conference Tuesday at Ankara’s Esenboğa airport before departing for northern Cyprus. He did not elaborate further but said the Foreign Ministry was working to arrange the trip, a move that has drawn criticism from Israel.
According to diplomatic sources, Erdoğan was planning to cross into Gaza from the Rafah gate with Egypt during his trip to the country July 21.
Taking into consideration that the U.N. panel on Gaza will release its report on the Mavi Marmara incident on July 27, the prime minister decided to postpone the Gaza part of his trip due to the possibility of an apology from Israel. If this does not happen before the U.N. report is released, Erdoğan is reportedly considering going to Gaza during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which starts Aug.1, and breaking the Israeli embargo himself.
Labels: Gaza plenty, Mavi Marmara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish obsession with Israel
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:45 PM
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