Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan dashed hopes for a normalisation of his country’s relations with Israel, on his return to Ankara from a state visit to Berlin Friday, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel directly appealed to him to reopen dialogue with the Jewish State.
Turkish daily Today’s Zaman claimed he told reporters he had reiterated his demands that Israel apologise for its role in the controversial raid of a Turkish aid flotilla to Gaza in 2010, which claimed the lives of nine Turkish nationals, as well as offering compensation, in addition to lifting the blockade on goods to Gaza.
Israel says its blockade of the coastal strip, first imposed in June 2006 and tightened in September 2007, is necessary to prevent weapons from entering the Palestinian territory ruled by the Islamist movement.
“It is impossible that our relations will be fixed unless these demands are realised,” Erdogan apparently added. Israel has previously indicated it would be prepared to issue only a partial apology for the loss of lives, without claiming culpability for the raid.
Erdogan further accused his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu of sending “very strange” envoys to Turkey in a bid to re-establish diplomatic relations between the formerly close allies.
In a further slight to the Israeli administration, the Turkish premier indicated he was open to becoming only the second state leader to make an official visit to the Gaza Strip, since the political coup by internationally-outlawed terrorist group Hamas in 2007 seized power from previous rulers Fatah, following last month’s visit by the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. Citing a proactive approach he previously made to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for the two leaders to make a join visit to Abbas’ fierce amass rivals, he added: “He was warm to the suggestion”.
However, close Abbas aide Nimr Hamad issued a veiled criticism of the Qatari leader ahead of his visit last month, when he called on Arab statesmen to avoid visits “that give Gaza a semi-independent status,” adding that “this is very dangerous for the Palestinian issue”.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor said the emir has chosen to support a terror organization that “makes the lives of Israelis and Palestinians miserable.” He questioned Qatar’s choice of supporting one side of the internal Palestinian conflict, when the international community public supports the Palestinian Authority and Abbas as its leader, and said the decision to support violent extremists was an act of “throwing the peace process under the bus.”