Turkey Refuses U.S. Mediation in Crisis with Israel
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Turkey does not need United States' mediation to solve a long-lasting crisis with Israel over a deadly 2010 flotilla raid, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday.
"We do not need mediation ... for Israel in any way," Davutoglu said during a televised press conference in the central province of Konya when asked to comment on the possibility of the U.S. helping to resolve their differences.
"There is no such situation in which mediation is needed. The demands of Turkey are clear" if its former ally Israel wants to improve relations, Davutoglu said.
"No one should test our resolve on this matter," he said, adding that Israeli-Turkish relations might be on the agenda among other issues of a meeting between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Barack Obama next week on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.
"The Americans are probably the people who best understand Turkey's position on this issue," Davutoglu added.
Israel and Turkey have been locked in a bitter dispute since May 2010 when Israeli naval commandos stormed a convoy of six ships trying to reach the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, killing nine people.
Earlier this month Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and froze military ties and defense trade deals.
Relations plummeted still further when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to send warships to escort any Turkish vessels trying to reach Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Obama will discuss the political crisis in Syria and wider turmoil throughout the Middle East in talks in New York on Tuesday with Erdogan, deputy U.S. national security advisor Ben Rhodes said on Friday. Obama will also likely address the rift between Turkey and Israel.
17 September 2011, 19:15
03
Turkey is heading in the wrong direction, that's for sure. Being in power and a position of responsabilty did not seem to have matured the Islamist minded Erdogan but on the contrary it seems to have made him more wreckless and instinctive and rash than ever before. A Prime example why fanatics even in ties and suites are always bad news for the nations they get to rule. The Flotilla was sent to Gaza despite warnings that their was an arms blockade on the Iranian trained and armed Hamas infested strip and that the situation was quite tense, yet the Turkish PM still sent these young men into harms way never the less just to exploit the unfortunate incident in order to incite extremist views in Turkey that would further his Islamist Ottaman agenda (much like the Salafi & Faqihi other wet dreams). This man is single handidly destroying all the generations of hard work of Turkish secular moderates that have gotten Turkey to where it is today miles ahead of any other Muslim country.
17 September 2011, 19:57
01
He is a world class politician, just look at Turkey of today, This is what the Arabs are missing.
As far as Israel is concerned....it is being isolated, hurt and drifted apart.....( government, not people ) by a coalition of uncertainty and Zero public relation.
Remember the Low Chair a comedy by the Aalon of the ministry of external affairs/....
This is what the government is woth.....naive embarrassement.
17 September 2011, 20:23
02
Erdogan is a Muslim fundamentalist disguised under a cloak of "secularism" and "democracy". He is like the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, pretending to have reformed themselves, only to gain access to power. Then, they will turn into totalitarian Islamists like the AlgerianFIS and others.
Let him free the 13 million Kurds who live under his oppression and persecution before lecturing Israel on the "poor" Palestinians.
Let him end his country's illegal occupation of Northern Cyprus before telling Israel to end its occupation of Gaza.
Turks are barbarians who occupied Lebanon for 400 years under the Ottoman empire and when they left, they left NOTHING in manner of civilization or culture behind them other that blood, massacres, and repression. NOTHING. At least, the French left us institutions after their 20-year mandate between the two world wars. No one in the Arab-Muslim world ever laments the 400-year Ottoman occupation, but they all take issue with the 20-year long French Mandate.
17 September 2011, 20:25
02
Turkey is posturing to gain sympathy and acceptance in the Arab world.
17 September 2011, 21:22
20
turkey is asking for its well earned respect...
boats carrying food and medicine were attacked , 9 people delivering FOOD and MEDICINE DIED
turkey being naive in the past have bought broken drones from israel , israel has not kept its promise to repair them.. nor have they completed their side of the deal. that along with Israel's refusal to apologize and im sure much more we are not aware of has ANGERED the TURKS!
17 September 2011, 23:50
11
Turkey wants to "try to fool and milk" the Arab revolutionaries to the maximum in order to get Israel to apologize. Then, they will once again become best friends at the expense of all. Turkey only cares about Turkey, PERIOD. So losers, stop fooling yourselves about Turkey's role. If Turkey really wants a role, Phony Erdy's first stop should be Bahrain, where he should remain until the people of Bahrain have their rightful demands met. But this clown is a phony clown in a Western suit and necktie. We should care less about another phony. I am surprised that the Turkish people have not revolted on Phony Erdy and his pack of hyenas yet!!!
18 September 2011, 15:55
00
turkey just read a the warped turkish version of " how to win friends and influence people" .... but unfortunately their new friends in the Middle East will be fake and their old friends in the West won't be as friendly.
