Breaking: Turkey expels Israeli envoy
I suppose this was to be expected. Turkey has thrown a temper tantrum over the release of the Palmer Commission report, which declared Israel's blockade of Gaza legal while concluding that the IHH members on the Mavi Marmara engaged in premeditated violence. The report also castigated the Turkish government for not trying to stop the blockade-running attempt.
The Turkish government has thrown a temper tantrum: They have expelled the Israeli ambassador to Turkey.
In a dramatic turn of events, Turkey announced that it was expelling Israeli Ambassador Gabby Levy from Ankara. Turkey withdrew its own ambassador to Israel immediately after the raid. Davutoglu said Turkey's diplomatic representation in Israel would be further reduced to second-secretary level.What's amazing about watching this is that everyone acts as if our relations with Turkey were fantastic until the Mavi Marmara incident happened. They were not. If they had been, perhaps Turkey would not have sent the IHH and the flotilla in the first place. Relations with Turkey have been embittered at least since Erdogan stormed off stage in Davos in January 2009 after attacking Shimon Peres for the Olmert government's conduct of Operation Cast Lead.
The announced followed a press conference, in which Davutoglu said that some of the UN's Palmer Report's findings on the raid were "unacceptable."
Turkey vowed Friday that its demand for an apology from Israel in the wake of the deadly raid on last year's Gaza-bound flotilla remains unchanged, stating that it is powerful enough to protect the rights of its citizen. The statement was made in Ankara's first official reaction to a leaked United Nations panel report on Mavi Marmara incident.
No one here is crying over Turkey. No one. I hear the beaches in Greece are nicer anyway. Heh.
Labels: Ahmet Davutoglu, Gaby Levy, Mavi Marmara, Palmer Commission, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, Turkish obsession with Israel
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:28 PM
2 Comments:
Can a pogrom in Turkey be far behind? Probably not.
I have a feeling even if Israel had apologized, the Turks would have found some other way to downgrade relations with Israel anyway.
There is no reason on earth for Israel to apologize for defending itself.
Turkey is shooting itself in the foot and it has more to lose than Israel does.
And there is no great domestic pressure on the Israeli government to kiss and make up with Turkey.
Heh
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