Turks Protesting Against Israel After Incident

"Landep News"

Mavi Marmara

Relations between Israel and Turkey continue to be cold as the report on what happened on board of the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara vessel pertaining to a flotilla that was heading for Gaza with humanitarian help is about to be read on the floor of the United Nations.

In spite of rumors about secret talks between Turkish and Israeli leaderships to the purpose of thawing relations between two state that used to have excellent relations, in a speech delivered on Friday to the parliament Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan gave no sign of softening, and restated that there would be no improvement in the relations between the two sides unless Israel presented an apology for the loss of nine Turkish lives in the clash with the Israeli Defense Forces during the boarding, on May 30, 2010.

Erdogan said that normalization was “unthinkable,” unless the Israelis apologized for the “illegal act which is against international law,” until payment was made to the relatives of those killed in “this atrocious event,” and the embargo on Gaza was lifted.

The raising of the stakes by adding the lifting the embargo on Gaza proves that Turkish Prime Minister feels that Israel may be in a difficult spot right now and could consent to at least some of these demands, though it is unconceivable that it would lift the blockade on Gaza. Or maybe not.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Erdogan’s remarks in parliament come at the end of an European tour Benyamin Netanyahu took to Europe, during which he visited France, UK, Germany and two states in Eastern Europe: Romania and Bulgaria.

While in Bulgaria, Netanyahu practically promised the Bulgarians something as big as a “merger” between the economy of Israel and that of their country, signing more economic treaties and sealing off more deals than Bulgarians had ever dreamt of.

Turks Protesting Against Israel After Incident

He practically held a joint government sitting with the counterpart government in Sofia, called Bulgaria “the entry market to Europe” and praised the gift of God to Bulgarians: fat lands and agricultural resources.

Did he send a message to Ankara by proclaiming Bulgaria, one of the poorest countries within the European Union, the strategic partner of Israel in the Balkans, a place where Turkey has huge interests, or was he just courting the Bulgarians for their vote in the U.N. General Assembly in September in case Palestinians want to proclaim a state of their one and demand official recognition? Or was he simply interested in putting Bulgarian food on the table of the Israelis? Could have been all three combined.

Israel agreed last year to pay compensations to the families of the people killed in the IDF’s raid, and even to express regret for the loss of their lives, but under no circumstance did it agree to offer an apology, which would be in their eyes admitting that they had been acting outside the frame of the international law, which they have systematically denied.

Since the beginning of the inquiries in the case Israel affirmed that the actions of the IDF were perfectly legitimate, though unfortunately they resulted in loss of human lives.

As the scandal escalated, two panels of inquiry were launched to establish what happened on that ship. One led by an Israeli judge, and another, appointed by the United Nations, was led by then outgoing president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, and the NZ former PM Geoffrey Palmer.

Turkish-Israeli Relations

Israeli officials cooperated with the Jewish panel, whom they told that IDF wanted to stop the flotilla for fear that they may smuggle weapons in the Palestinian territory.

Ehud Barak, minister of defense, uttered that even the thought of letting them pass had been advanced, but soon discarded as it became obvious that even though the good relation with Turkey hang in balance, the safety of Israeli citizens was more important. Barak also assumed what the IDF soldiers have done.

Netanyahu stressed out that IDF was within its right to defend the national territory, and that the outcome of the raid would have been different had the Turkish nationals not attacked the Israeli soldiers.

The international panel issued a report in September by which the intervention of IDF on board the Mavi Marmara was catalogued as brutal and using unwarranted force.

Though dismissed by Jerusalem as almost anti-Semitic, and deeply biased, the report meets to some extent the reports given by the activists on board the vessel that day, which say that acts of theft and brutality have been committed by the soldiers.

Turkey however was very satisfied with the report and demanded an apology and payments for those who lost their dear ones.

A first attempt to thaw the relations occurred last autumn, when Turkey helped Israel put out the fire that consumed the forests in Haifa. There were rumors of secret negotiations being held in the capitals of Europe, but nothing substantial has resulted yet.

Turkish PM and Israeli President

UN is to publish on July 27 the report issued last year in September, already called the Palmer report, whose publication was delayed so that it would allow dialogue between Turkey and Israel.

Ehud Barak told the press that he expected the Palmer report to show Israel acted in legitimate defense and dismissed Erdogan’s claim to apology, saying that an apology would be as much as recognizing a guilt in what happened, and would expose the members of the commando to prosecution abroad.

A Turkish official said that his country expected the report to be consistent with the report issued in September last year, which would, at least, embarrass Israel.

The relation between Turkey and Israel faded since 2008, when the campaign on Gaza was launched, intensely criticized by Erdogan’s government.

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