Tweet
The Times, UK
September 10, 2011 Saturday 12:01 AM GMT
Turkey threatens to send warships with Gaza flotilla
by James Hider, Jerusalem
The Turkish Prime Minister has threatened to send warships to
accompany the next flotilla taking aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, a
move that an Israeli official said could be seen as an act of war.
The war of words between the once-close allies worsened still after
when Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who last week expelled the Israeli
ambassador, upped the ante once again, raising the spectre of the
diplomatic spat turning into an armed confrontation.
"Turkish warships will be tasked with protecting the Turkish boats
bringing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip," Mr Erdogan told the news
channel al-Jazeera. "From now on, we will no longer allow these boats
to be the targets of attacks by Israel, like the one on the Freedom
Flotilla, because then Israel will have to deal with an appropriate
response."
Ties between Turkey and Israel were already in decline last year when
Israel commandos launched a botched raid on a Turkish aid ship aiming
to break the four-year maritime blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip,
killing nine Turkish activists. Since then, relations between the two
counties have been in freefall.
One Israeli official, who asked not to be named, said that Israeli
vessels would never be the first to open fire on Turkish ships if they
tried to enter coastal waters off Gaza, but said that in light of a UN
endorsement of the blockade last week - part of a report examining the
fatal shootings - any such move could technically be seen as "an act
of war".
Officially, Israel has tried to calm the situation down. "It is better
to stay quiet and wait, we have no interest in aggravating the
situation by replying to such (verbal) attacks," said Dan Meridor,
Minister for Intelligence as well as deputy Prime Minister. He said
that the Turkish leader's remarks were "grave and serious."
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that Avigdor Liebermann,
the Foreign Minister, was planning measures that will "exact a price
from Erdogan that will show him that it doesn't pay to start up with
Israel."
Among those measures could be linking Israel's powerful lobby in
Washington to the Armenian push to brand the killing of a million
Armenians by Ottoman Turkey in 1915 as a genocide, as well as
establishing contacts with Kurdish groups pushing for more autonomy
inside Turkey.
The paper quoted an Israeli official as saying that Mr Erdogan "is a
street bully trying to scare us, but is only getting himself in
trouble."
While few Israelis think Turkey would go so far as sending warships to
break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, Alon Liel, a former Israeli
ambassador to Turkey, said that Mr Erdogan's warnings carried some
weight. "This warning should be taken more seriously than a
hypothetical expression of support for any Gaza-bound flotilla, taking
into account Turkish interests in the region," he said.
He believed however that a more likely point of confrontation could be
if Israel signs a deal to provide liquid natural gas to Cyprus. Turkey
has 40,000 troops station in Northern Cyprus, an all but unrecognised
state established by Turkey in the 1974 war there.
"I think [confrontation] can happen," he said "Turkey will do
everything it can to stop this." He also worried that when Mr
Ergogan's Turkey, which he has shaped into an economically booming,
moderately Islamist democracy and a regional powerhouse, could prove a
model for Arab states emerging from dictatorship around the region.
With its powerful economy, he said Mr Erdogan was likely to offer
massive loans to Egypt when he visits later this month, building it up
into a regional ally and perhaps even replacing the US as the Egyptian
army's principal funder.
As a result, he may try to pressure Egypt to downgrade its own
diplomatic status with Israel as part of the feud, and could persuade
Cairo to allow him to visit Gaza, which would give the Islamist
movement Hamas there a serious boost.
Last night, the US called on Turkey and Israel to exercise restraint
and avoid provocative actions or rhetoric.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
September 10, 2011 Saturday 12:01 AM GMT
Turkey threatens to send warships with Gaza flotilla
by James Hider, Jerusalem
The Turkish Prime Minister has threatened to send warships to
accompany the next flotilla taking aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, a
move that an Israeli official said could be seen as an act of war.
The war of words between the once-close allies worsened still after
when Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who last week expelled the Israeli
ambassador, upped the ante once again, raising the spectre of the
diplomatic spat turning into an armed confrontation.
"Turkish warships will be tasked with protecting the Turkish boats
bringing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip," Mr Erdogan told the news
channel al-Jazeera. "From now on, we will no longer allow these boats
to be the targets of attacks by Israel, like the one on the Freedom
Flotilla, because then Israel will have to deal with an appropriate
response."
Ties between Turkey and Israel were already in decline last year when
Israel commandos launched a botched raid on a Turkish aid ship aiming
to break the four-year maritime blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip,
killing nine Turkish activists. Since then, relations between the two
counties have been in freefall.
One Israeli official, who asked not to be named, said that Israeli
vessels would never be the first to open fire on Turkish ships if they
tried to enter coastal waters off Gaza, but said that in light of a UN
endorsement of the blockade last week - part of a report examining the
fatal shootings - any such move could technically be seen as "an act
of war".
Officially, Israel has tried to calm the situation down. "It is better
to stay quiet and wait, we have no interest in aggravating the
situation by replying to such (verbal) attacks," said Dan Meridor,
Minister for Intelligence as well as deputy Prime Minister. He said
that the Turkish leader's remarks were "grave and serious."
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that Avigdor Liebermann,
the Foreign Minister, was planning measures that will "exact a price
from Erdogan that will show him that it doesn't pay to start up with
Israel."
Among those measures could be linking Israel's powerful lobby in
Washington to the Armenian push to brand the killing of a million
Armenians by Ottoman Turkey in 1915 as a genocide, as well as
establishing contacts with Kurdish groups pushing for more autonomy
inside Turkey.
The paper quoted an Israeli official as saying that Mr Erdogan "is a
street bully trying to scare us, but is only getting himself in
trouble."
While few Israelis think Turkey would go so far as sending warships to
break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, Alon Liel, a former Israeli
ambassador to Turkey, said that Mr Erdogan's warnings carried some
weight. "This warning should be taken more seriously than a
hypothetical expression of support for any Gaza-bound flotilla, taking
into account Turkish interests in the region," he said.
He believed however that a more likely point of confrontation could be
if Israel signs a deal to provide liquid natural gas to Cyprus. Turkey
has 40,000 troops station in Northern Cyprus, an all but unrecognised
state established by Turkey in the 1974 war there.
"I think [confrontation] can happen," he said "Turkey will do
everything it can to stop this." He also worried that when Mr
Ergogan's Turkey, which he has shaped into an economically booming,
moderately Islamist democracy and a regional powerhouse, could prove a
model for Arab states emerging from dictatorship around the region.
With its powerful economy, he said Mr Erdogan was likely to offer
massive loans to Egypt when he visits later this month, building it up
into a regional ally and perhaps even replacing the US as the Egyptian
army's principal funder.
As a result, he may try to pressure Egypt to downgrade its own
diplomatic status with Israel as part of the feud, and could persuade
Cairo to allow him to visit Gaza, which would give the Islamist
movement Hamas there a serious boost.
Last night, the US called on Turkey and Israel to exercise restraint
and avoid provocative actions or rhetoric.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress