Jigs
ELITE MEMBER
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Thursday, July 1, 2010
ANKARA - Daily News with wires
Israel has signaled it may compensate families of some of the victims of its aid-flotilla raid in comments reportedly made during a covert meeting between Turkish and Israeli officials, the first high-level contact since the deadly attack.
“There will be a second meeting if the Israeli side takes a step toward [meeting] our demands,” a Turkish diplomatic source told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Thursday. “We do not categorically dismiss meeting with Israeli officials at this level.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Israeli Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who is known to have good relations with Turkey, met secretly in Brussels on Wednesday. The meeting was later disclosed by the Israeli media and the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a strong statement criticizing Ben-Eliezer’s move.
Diplomatic sources said the meeting could provide a way out of the current situation, as ties between the two countries have been badly damaged by the May 31 raid, in which Israeli commandos killed eight Turks and one American of Turkish descent in a deadly attack on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
“Davutoğlu reminded Ben-Eliezer of Turkey’s demands from Israel, including an apology, payment of compensation to families of those killed and wounded, an international inquiry and an end to the blockade of Gaza,” Burak Özügergin, a spokesman for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters Thursday.
Diplomatic sources said no move to meet these demands would be made until after the Israeli commission tasked with investigating the incident issues its report to the Israeli government.
According to Özügergin, the two ministers discussed the current state of Turkish-Israeli relations and the future of the relationship, adding that Ben-Eliezer assured Davutoğlu that Turkey’s demands would be conveyed to the Israeli government.
“The point our ties have reached is not one we are happy with. The meeting provided an opportunity to convey in person the steps we expect [to see taken] so that relations can be repaired. The reason why they requested this meeting might be to determine our expectations,” the spokesman said.
Turkish officials have said Israel initiated the talks, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday that Turkey had requested the meeting.
The Israeli newspaper daily Haaretz reported that the White House prompted and coordinated the Brussels talks after U.S. President Barack Obama met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and urged him to repair relations with Israel.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon had earlier said Washington was working to heal the Turkish-Israeli rift amid fears that Turkey, the sole primarily Muslim member of NATO, was moving away from the West.
In the aftermath of the May 31 attack, Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel and blocked some Israeli military flights in Turkish airspace.
Meeting sparks high-level row in Israel
The secret talks between Israel and Turkey provoked a major row between the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the office of the Israeli prime minister.
News of the meeting, reported Wednesday evening by Israel’s Channel 2 TV, infuriated Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose office issued a sharply worded statement saying the move caused “serious harm” to his relations with Netanyahu.
“The foreign minister views as extremely serious the fact that this was done without notifying the foreign ministry. This goes against all norms of government and does serious harm to the trust between the foreign minister and the prime minister,” Lieberman’s office said in its statement.
Netanyahu’s office released a statement confirming the meeting but explaining it was initiated by the Turks and was “unofficial.” According to the statement, Ben-Eliezer had told Netanyahu that a senior Turkish official had asked him for an unofficial meeting.
“The prime minister saw no reason not to have the meeting,” the statement said. “In recent weeks there have been various initiatives for contacts with Turkey, which the foreign ministry knew about. The failure to update the ministry was due merely to a technical reason. The prime minister is fully cooperating with the foreign minister.”
Ben-Eliezer was the first Israeli minister to visit Ankara last year after Israel’s war on Gaza triggered severe Turkish criticism. Since the flotilla raid, he has been calling for immediate steps to stop the deterioration in bilateral relations.
Sources close to Ben-Eliezer told daily Yediot Aharonot that keeping the talks secret from Lieberman was the right thing to do as the foreign minister had played “a significant part in intensifying the crisis with Turkey.”
Diplomatic sources said the Israeli side preferred to keep the Brussels meeting covert because of internal sensitivities. The talks were reportedly also kept secret from Turkey’s chief EU negotiator, Egemen Bağış, and Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker, who were both in Brussels with Davutoğlu.
ANKARA - Daily News with wires
Israel has signaled it may compensate families of some of the victims of its aid-flotilla raid in comments reportedly made during a covert meeting between Turkish and Israeli officials, the first high-level contact since the deadly attack.
“There will be a second meeting if the Israeli side takes a step toward [meeting] our demands,” a Turkish diplomatic source told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Thursday. “We do not categorically dismiss meeting with Israeli officials at this level.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Israeli Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who is known to have good relations with Turkey, met secretly in Brussels on Wednesday. The meeting was later disclosed by the Israeli media and the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a strong statement criticizing Ben-Eliezer’s move.
Diplomatic sources said the meeting could provide a way out of the current situation, as ties between the two countries have been badly damaged by the May 31 raid, in which Israeli commandos killed eight Turks and one American of Turkish descent in a deadly attack on a Gaza-bound flotilla.
“Davutoğlu reminded Ben-Eliezer of Turkey’s demands from Israel, including an apology, payment of compensation to families of those killed and wounded, an international inquiry and an end to the blockade of Gaza,” Burak Özügergin, a spokesman for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters Thursday.
Diplomatic sources said no move to meet these demands would be made until after the Israeli commission tasked with investigating the incident issues its report to the Israeli government.
According to Özügergin, the two ministers discussed the current state of Turkish-Israeli relations and the future of the relationship, adding that Ben-Eliezer assured Davutoğlu that Turkey’s demands would be conveyed to the Israeli government.
“The point our ties have reached is not one we are happy with. The meeting provided an opportunity to convey in person the steps we expect [to see taken] so that relations can be repaired. The reason why they requested this meeting might be to determine our expectations,” the spokesman said.
Turkish officials have said Israel initiated the talks, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday that Turkey had requested the meeting.
The Israeli newspaper daily Haaretz reported that the White House prompted and coordinated the Brussels talks after U.S. President Barack Obama met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and urged him to repair relations with Israel.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Gordon had earlier said Washington was working to heal the Turkish-Israeli rift amid fears that Turkey, the sole primarily Muslim member of NATO, was moving away from the West.
In the aftermath of the May 31 attack, Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel and blocked some Israeli military flights in Turkish airspace.
Meeting sparks high-level row in Israel
The secret talks between Israel and Turkey provoked a major row between the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the office of the Israeli prime minister.
News of the meeting, reported Wednesday evening by Israel’s Channel 2 TV, infuriated Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose office issued a sharply worded statement saying the move caused “serious harm” to his relations with Netanyahu.
“The foreign minister views as extremely serious the fact that this was done without notifying the foreign ministry. This goes against all norms of government and does serious harm to the trust between the foreign minister and the prime minister,” Lieberman’s office said in its statement.
Netanyahu’s office released a statement confirming the meeting but explaining it was initiated by the Turks and was “unofficial.” According to the statement, Ben-Eliezer had told Netanyahu that a senior Turkish official had asked him for an unofficial meeting.
“The prime minister saw no reason not to have the meeting,” the statement said. “In recent weeks there have been various initiatives for contacts with Turkey, which the foreign ministry knew about. The failure to update the ministry was due merely to a technical reason. The prime minister is fully cooperating with the foreign minister.”
Ben-Eliezer was the first Israeli minister to visit Ankara last year after Israel’s war on Gaza triggered severe Turkish criticism. Since the flotilla raid, he has been calling for immediate steps to stop the deterioration in bilateral relations.
Sources close to Ben-Eliezer told daily Yediot Aharonot that keeping the talks secret from Lieberman was the right thing to do as the foreign minister had played “a significant part in intensifying the crisis with Turkey.”
Diplomatic sources said the Israeli side preferred to keep the Brussels meeting covert because of internal sensitivities. The talks were reportedly also kept secret from Turkey’s chief EU negotiator, Egemen Bağış, and Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker, who were both in Brussels with Davutoğlu.
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