Ankara – Turkey deepened its rift with Israel on Monday by vowing to work for the recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations and by saying it has notified high-level Israeli diplomats they have two days to leave the country.
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Late last week, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador after Israel refused to apologize for the botched Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound protest flotilla that killed nine pro-Palestinian activists last year. Israel has expressed regret for the loss of lives.
A U.N. report released last week called the Israeli raid “excessive and unreasonable,” but also said Turkey and flotilla organizers contributed to the deaths.
The dispute has brought relations between the once-close allies to the verge of collapse, and injected a new element of instability into an already volatile region.
Turkey said Monday it has notified Ella Aphek, the Israeli Embassy’s deputy head of mission, that she and other senior Israeli diplomats must leave by Wednesday now that Turkey has decided to downgrade its diplomatic ties with Israel to the level of second secretary.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday that Turkey will work to lobby other nations “until we obtain the highest number of votes” for a plan by Palestinians to seek recognition as a state at annual meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly beginning on Sept. 20.
On Saturday, Davutoglu said Turkey would start procedures to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.
The United States has indicated it will veto any Palestinian statehood vote in the absence of a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Palestinians hope a U.N. vote in their favor would isolate Israel and put heavy pressure on the Israelis to withdraw from captured territories.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state is not a favor for the Palestinians, it is the Palestinian people’s most natural right and our debt to them,” Davutoglu told a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ adviser, Nabil Shaath. “It is time to pay the debt.”
Also Monday, the fallout from the Israeli-Turkish rift sparked a spat over airport security, with Israeli air passengers complaining they were harassed and intimidated Monday at Istanbul airport and Turkish air passengers making similar claims about their treatment in Tel Aviv.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official said that Turks flying back to Turkey from Tel Aviv complained about being mistreated in Israel, prompting Turkish customs police to “retaliate” with more stringent security measures against Israeli passengers.
The official said police “searched the Israelis’ passports more rigorously and delayed the procedures as much as possible.” He said police acted on their own initiative.
The Turkish official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with ministry regulations that bar officials from speaking to journalists without prior authorization.
Reports of airport harassment first emanated from Turkey, where media reported that Turkish passengers on a Turkish Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul said they were singled out for particularly thorough searches and questioning.
Eyup Ensar Ugur, a Turkish tour guide on the flight, told The Associated Press that media reports about harassment were exaggerated.
“They questioned us repeatedly and searched our bags and bodies in detail but any harassment is out of question,” Ugur said in an interview. “I was asked to remove my top, my pants were on but had to unzip them. One official searched my body by hand and a detector,” Ugur said.
The plane made an emergency landing in the Mediterranean city of Antalya to remove a passenger who felt sick, he said. There, one Muslim Turk and another Turkish Jew argued with some other Turks about the necessity of the strict security check, Ugur said. That led to a scuffle in the airport that Turkish police quelled, he said.
Later Monday, dozens of Israeli passengers on flights between Tel Aviv and Istanbul reported that Turkish security officials at Ataturk International Airport briefly took their passports and questioned them, a passenger and the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
A woman who identified herself as a newlywed named Alina told Israel Army Radio her passport was taken away and she was taken to a dark room by security officers who spoke only Turkish. There, she was forced to strip to her underpants to be searched by a female officer. After being allowed to redress, she was directed to a corner where all the Israelis were told to sit, allowed to board only moments before the doors closed.
Ahmet Aydin, the director of Ataturk International Airport, denied any passengers had been mistreated. He added it has long been the practice to subject Israeli passengers to the same close scrutiny Turkish passengers experience in Israel under what he called “the principle of reciprocity.”
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Any idea how the Jewish communities are getting along there? I just hope Israel doesn’t bow to the pressure they are facing from these Jew hating arabs!
Perhaps it is time for Israel to say bye bye to Turkey. Send back all their diplomats, stop all trade, recall anything military sent to them. Let them know that there will be no bullying of Israel. If Turkey wants to play tough, let’s go all the way. yes, cold war. They declared, not Israel.
You yiddisher redneck! Turks are not Arabs. And every country has a perfect right to defend its citizens and do whatever they want diplomatically. The Medina is not the. balabus of the world, you know!!
““They questioned us repeatedly and searched our bags and bodies in detail but any harassment is out of question,” Ugur said in an interview. “I was asked to remove my top, my pants were on but had to unzip them. One official searched my body by hand and a detector,” Ugur said.”
I guess their definition of “harassment” requires electric current applied to outlying portions of the body.
The whole affair sounds increasingly like a red herring. Turkey’s actual goal might simply be to cuddle up with the Gazans; their relationship with Israel is expendable. I wonder how they’ll feel when they get an “Arab Spring” in their own front yard.
To support a palestinian state without recognizing Israel is like taking a loaded gun and pointing it at your own foot and asking your 3 year old to play with the trigger.
It is becoming clearer by the day that Turkey is no longer a friend . Apology or no apology they seem to have recalculated the worth of their Israeli friendship.
For all those advocating an apology I must tell you, it seems that an apology is besides the point. This shift away from the West seems to be calculated and and somehow in Turkey’s interest. Turkey is intent on becoming a regional power. They tried using Israel as a stepping stone to the United States . For whatever reason they have now shifted strategy.
I wonder if the Israelis woul’ve apologized to the Turks would that take away the debt to the Palestinians? Since it’s the first time TURKEY is asking for that right for the Palestinians.
I think the Turkish keader is having temporary insanity. What could he possibly gain by picking a fight with Israel and by extension Europe and the US, and instead, siding with the Palestinians? Is he looking to curry favor with Venezuela and North Korea? I don’t get it–Turkey was doing so well when it towed the European line.
When will the world give the Kurds their own independent Kurdistan? They have been the victims of Turkish racism and brutality for too long. Too many innocent Kurdish resistance fighters have been killed at the hands of evil, racist Turks.
Its always good when our enemies don’t hide- its easier on those jews who decieve themselves to know that evil lurks behind the smiles…
The next country to fall in Arab land will be Turkey!!!
That’s it, all Yidden must now boycott Turkey for their own safety.
This nabisch Turkey of a country who’s hands are full of blood with its Armenian genocide and its killing of Kurds has the audacity and gall to worry about the Palis. The death of those 9 terrorists abroad the flotilla could of and should of been prevented by Turkey itself, instead they went looking for a confrontation and that’s exactly what they got.
By the way the Palis were given the area of Jordan and in fact that country is over 70% palestinian, so now on what basis do they demand a second country for themselves.
this is nothing new when turkey changed PM there was a shift towards the moslem world it has moved slowly away from the western nations so as not to upset them or get thrown out of NATO USA id giving them a new radar station because of NATO
from now, Israel should d the same thing. we will do a selectzia on every single Arab, strip them down, and detain them until we get bored with them, and find fresh targets
It’s not so easy for U.S. jews to boycott Turkey. I can’t think of one identifiably Turkish product to boycott. Most exports go to Europe.
Of course, what we can do is fund more litigation on behalf of the Amernians and send donations to Kurdish causes. Drives the Turks absolutely crazy.