Posted on 06/04/2010 6:09:09 PM PDT by markomalley
WASHINGTON—Turkey moved closer to severing its relations with Israel, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly apologize for his government's high-seas military action against a pro-Palestinian flotilla this week in order to avert a formal diplomatic rupture.
Senior Israeli officials responded Friday that their government would never apologize for an act of "self defense" and acknowledged that Israel could be on the verge of losing its closest military and economic ally in the Middle East.
Such a development, these officials said, would raise new strategic and diplomatic challenges for Israel if Ankara reorients itself away from its historically pro-Israel and pro-Western stance.
"[We] hope that it won't happen. But if it does, it will be very problematic for the region and Europe as well," said a senior Israeli defense official in Washington. "It will mark another step of Turkey moving eastward."
Turkey's ambassador to the U.S., Namik Tan, laid out three demands for Israel to meet in order to maintain its relationship with Ankara.
In addition to the public apology from Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Tan said the Israeli government must consent to an international investigation into the commando operation, in which nine Turkish activists died on a Turkish-flagged ship, the Mavi Marmara. The Turkish envoy, a seasoned diplomat and former ambassador to Israel, also said Israel must take concrete steps to ease its military blockade of the Gaza Strip.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Turkey has been looking for a reason to do this ever since the Islamists were elected and allowed to take over. Shame the once secular military didn’t put an end this crap.
ML/NJ
Turkey appears to be hellbent on looking for trouble and I think they might find it.
It’s time to kick Turkey out of NATO.
It’s time to kick Turkey out of NATO.
___________________
THey should never have been let in. The late Winston Spencer Churchill warned against it years ago, to no avail. Now, they are in, and NO ONE in Europe has the guts to kick them out. In fact, Obama will probably USE our NATO links to Turkey as THE reason NOT to support Israel should any violence break out between them. That would be the most horrendous error on his part — both internationally and domestically. I don’t think he has a clue what kind of storm that would unleash, politically, and perhaps spiritually.
Turkey being part of NATO could become (more) problematic.
Dear Israel:
If Turkey was your friend they would not have sent that ship to being with, but you already know that.
Turkey - the 'sick man' of Europe.
So they want to sever ties with Israel. Is that a threat or a promise?
Israel just agreed to sell them a bunch of UAVs. What does Turkey do for Israel in return? Hopefully, Israel printed the schematics for the maintenance manuals in reverse!
Nuke Istanbul.
Turkey knows very well that Israel cannot and should not meet those demands. That international investigation would be nothing more than a kangaroo court and easing the blockade puts Israeli citizens directly in harms way.
The die is cast with Turkey. It’s just a matter of time until they officially line up with the Iran’s and Syria’s of the world.
If the choice is between Turkey and Israel, there’s no choice but Israel.
The blockade must be quite effective. Keep it up.
This NATO member has to make a choice. Either Western civilization, or the ummah. Dar al Islam, or war. No other choice is now possible.
5.56mm
This is like the Seattle city council voting to boycott Arizona, while the majority of Washington state residents polled said they supported the Arizona law.
Even the majority of the Turkish press is taking Israel’s side in this matter.
...demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly apologize for his government's high-seas military action against a pro-Palestinian flotilla this week in order to avert a formal diplomatic rupture.Israel should invade eastern Cyprus, deport all the Turks living there, and then withdraw, turning over administration to the Greek Cypriotes. What would Erdogan realistically be able to do about it? No country except Turkey recognizes it as an independent state; it would help highlight the Turkish occupation of Armenian, Kurdish, and (formerly) Greek areas in Anatolia, while showing the Islamofascist regime incapable of doing anything about it. It would also hamstring the UN General Assembly, and rupture Turkish participation in NATO and the EU.
Better yet, send in Mossad to ensure a successful military coup and rid the entire Turkish government of Islamists.
In other news Turkey’s military stepped up preprations to oust the governement once again.
What good, exactly, are these “ties” doing Israel? Turkey has already backed this stupid blockade-running activity, which can only hurt Israel.
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