10/09/2011
Source:maannews.net
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israel's foreign ministry has prepared a series of "harsh measures" to "punish" Turkey's leadership for diplomatic slights, Israeli media reported Friday.
Israel will facilitate cooperation with the Armenians, Turkey's historic rivals, and may even lobby for international recognition of the Armenian holocaust, the Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is also planning to meet with Kurdish rebels in Europe in order to “cooperate with them and boost them in every possible area,” Yedioth's English website said.
"We’ll exact a price from Erdogan that will prove to him that messing with Israel doesn’t pay off," Lieberman was quoted as saying. "Turkey better treat us with respect and common decency."
Another means in Lieberman’s “toolbox,” according to the news site Ynet, is a diplomatic campaign where Israeli missions worldwide will be instructed to report Turkish moves against minorities.
The diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel that was sparked by the flotilla raid took a turn for the worse in the last week, following publication of a UN probe into the incident, which found Israel's naval blockade to be legal although it chastised Israel for using "excessive" force in the raid.
Israel has so far refused to apologize for the bloodshed and called the report's conclusions a vindication of its stance, deeply angering Turkey.
Turkey responded to the report by expelling Israel's ambassador, suspending military agreements with Israel and warning it was considering lodging a legal case against Israel at the International Criminal Court.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, vowed to accompany any future aid flotillas to Gaza with naval warships, Al Jazeera television quoted him as saying Thursday.
Earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak played down the diplomatic crisis, saying the dispute "will pass."
But he reiterated his government's line that Israel would not apologize for the operation, which targeted a flotilla of ships trying to break Israel's naval blockade on Gaza, and cost the lives of nine Turkish nationals.
"The current wave will pass, I am sure that we will get over all this," he told public radio just days after Ankara expelled the Israeli ambassador and suspended all military ties and defense trade.
"Turkey is not an enemy of Israel."
"Both we and the Turks know the reality: our two countries are very important to the West. The real problem for the West in this region is Syria, and what is happening in Egypt and Iran, not Turkey," he added.
The minister admitted once again that "errors may have occurred in the way in which force was used" when naval commandos boarded the Turkish ferry leading the flotilla.
But Barak stressed that Israel had already expressed its "regret" over the loss of human life without making the formal apology that Turkey has demanded.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday insisted he wanted to mend the split with Turkey but also praised forces who took part the naval operation.
Print
No comments:
Post a Comment