Jerusalem, January 14: Israel has had to apologise to Turkey over the humiliation of its envoy, in the latest spat to undermine the country’s ties with its closest ally in the Muslim world.
President Gül issued the ultimatum after a half-hearted apology by Danny Ayalon, the Israeli deputy Foreign Minister, for his treatment of the ambassador, Ahmet Celikkol.
The Turkish envoy was summoned over a Turkish television series that depicted Israeli security forces kidnapping children and shooting elderly people.
During the televised meeting Mr Ayalon, of the right-wing Yisrael Beitenu party, told the Israeli cameraman in Hebrew to “pay attention that he is sitting in a lower chair . . . that there is only an Israeli flag on the table and that we are not smiling.”
Turkey was furious at the diplomatic slight and Mr Ayalon issued a statement offering a semi-apology, which Ankara rejected. Last night Binyamin Netanyahu sent a letter to Ankara offering his formal apology over the incident.
The diplomatic storm came after a series of increasingly bitter disputes between the two counties, which had previously enjoyed close military, diplomatic and economic ties. Those have cooled substantially since Recep Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, walked out of a public debate with Shimon Peres, the Israeli President, at the World Economic Forum in January last year in protest at Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Turkey later refused to allow Israel to take part in annual war games that it hosts in conjunction with the United States and Nato partners, prompting America to cancel the exercises.
Israel expressed its anger when Turkish television screened another show last October depicting Israeli troops as vicious child-killers during the Gaza war.
While the ostensible cause of the strains was the Gaza war, many Israeli officials believe the cooling of relations is symptomatic of a wider move by Turkey, a secular Muslim state, away from the West and towards its eastern Muslim neighbours.
Israeli officials admit there is little they can do about the strategic realignment, but say that Turkey’s government may be using the Palestinian issue to curry favour with Muslim states.
Turkey had been playing a key role in indirect talks between Israel and its long-time foe Syria, and Mr Ayalon’s superior, the Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, stressed the longstanding relationship between the two states.
“We have had good relations with Turkey for many years and we respect the Turkish state and people,” he said during a visit to Cyprus.
“But that is exactly what we expect in return – for them to treat us with dignity and respect. Any issues or questions that they may have can be raised using dialogue, direct dialogue, even if we don’t see eye to eye on some issues.”
—Agencies