DesiGuy
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ANKARA: Turkey will sever diplomatic ties with Israel unless it apologises over the commando raid on an aid convoy to Gaza in which nine Turks died, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying earlier on Monday.
Relations will be broken unless Israel apologises or accepts the conclusions of an international inquiry into the May 31 attack on the aid convoy bound for Gaza, he told Mondays edition of the Hurriyet newspaper.
Turkey has until now called for an international probe into the raid but in a break with that position, Davutoglu did not reject the creation of Israels own commission to investigate the raid.
If this commission concludes that the raid was unjust and if they apologise, that will be sufficient, he said, although he insisted that Turkey wanted compensation from the Jewish state.
The foreign minister also said that Turkey had closed its airspace to all Israeli military flights in reaction to the raid.
Israel will never say sorry for defending itself, a senior government official said on Monday after Turkey demanded an apology for a deadly commando raid on an aid convoy to Gaza.
Israel will never apologise for defending its citizens, the official told AFP.
Of course, we regret the loss of life but it was not the Israeli side that initiated the violence. His remarks were made after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed Ankara would sever diplomatic ties with Israel unless it apologised over the operation which left nine people dead, all of them Turkish nationals.
But Israeli officials reacted angrily to Turkey's threats.
When you want want an apology, you don't use threats or ultimatums, foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP.
Everything leads us to believe that Turkey has another agenda in mind, he said, without giving further details. AFP
DAWN.COM | World | Turkey threatens to sever Israel ties
Relations will be broken unless Israel apologises or accepts the conclusions of an international inquiry into the May 31 attack on the aid convoy bound for Gaza, he told Mondays edition of the Hurriyet newspaper.
Turkey has until now called for an international probe into the raid but in a break with that position, Davutoglu did not reject the creation of Israels own commission to investigate the raid.
If this commission concludes that the raid was unjust and if they apologise, that will be sufficient, he said, although he insisted that Turkey wanted compensation from the Jewish state.
The foreign minister also said that Turkey had closed its airspace to all Israeli military flights in reaction to the raid.
Israel will never say sorry for defending itself, a senior government official said on Monday after Turkey demanded an apology for a deadly commando raid on an aid convoy to Gaza.
Israel will never apologise for defending its citizens, the official told AFP.
Of course, we regret the loss of life but it was not the Israeli side that initiated the violence. His remarks were made after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed Ankara would sever diplomatic ties with Israel unless it apologised over the operation which left nine people dead, all of them Turkish nationals.
But Israeli officials reacted angrily to Turkey's threats.
When you want want an apology, you don't use threats or ultimatums, foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP.
Everything leads us to believe that Turkey has another agenda in mind, he said, without giving further details. AFP
DAWN.COM | World | Turkey threatens to sever Israel ties