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Turkey says again Israel Gaza attack hurt peace
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - Turkey renewed its criticism on Tuesday of Israel for its 2008 invasion of Gaza, saying it had scuttled a potential peace deal, despite an Israeli warning that Turkey's stance was detrimental to their relations.
"One day before the attack on Gaza, we were so close to peace between Israel and Syria (and) suddenly Gaza was attacked by Israeli air forces," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
He said the Gaza attack had marked the turning point in Turkish-Israeli relations and denied speculation the cooling was linked to difficulties with Turkey's bid to join the European Union or with any Islamisation of Turkish foreign policy.
Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed during the 22-day military offensive in the Gaza Strip that Israel launched in December 2008 in response to Hamas rocket attacks.
Israel and Syria held four indirect rounds of peace talks in Turkey in 2008, but they were suspended following the resignation of then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in September that year.
Syria said at the time of the Israeli offensive that it ruled out a resumption of the indirect talks any time soon.
Muslim but secular Turkey is an important ally of Israel but relations have cooled since then.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will pay a one-day visit to Turkey on Sunday, Turkish and Israeli officials said, a trip that could help mend frayed ties between the two regional powers
.
Israel said on Monday that Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's often fierce public condemnation of its policies could undermine relations after Erdogan criticized an Israeli attack that killed three Gazan militants on Sunday.
Davutoglu said it was Turkey's right to criticize Israel over the Gaza offensive because his country had worked hard to reduce tensions in the region "and one attack destroyed all this infrastructure for peace."
"As one of the leading countries in this region, we cannot tolerate humanitarian tragedies," he said.
A year after the offensive, Gazans still lacked houses, children did not have schools and the blockade continued, he said.
"Gaza is still like a ghetto in our region," he added.
If Israel responded to international calls to stop settlement building and worked for peace, Turkish-Israeli relations would immediately change "in a positive direction," Davutoglu said.
(Reporting by Adrian Croft; Editing by Michael Roddy)
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Israel is a brutal, angry, fascist power, totally gone beserk because of the silent collusion and weakness of the US and UK govts.
Of course there are more Israelis in the United States than Israel since there is dual citizenship.
Turkey and the whole world have a right to criticize the ongoing and past crimes of Israel and to stand up to them. Similarly Turkey is open for criticism about its imperfections.
I hope Turkey supports sanctions against Israel if the siege of Gaza continues and especially if Israel goes on another joyous shooting spree like last year when they slaughtered 1440 defenseless Palestinians.
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