European Forum

EU, US try to ease escalated tensions between Turkey and Israel

Yesterday (5 July) tensions between Turkey and Israel escalated, after Ankara warned it would cut ties with Israel unless it apologises for a deadly attack on a humanitarian flotilla on its way to Gaza or accepts an international inquiry into the incident. "Israel has three paths ahead: It either apologises or accepts the findings from an international commission investigating the raid, or Turkey will cut off ties," stated Turkey's FM Ahmet Davutoğlu.

Foreign media were quick to report that the statement of the Turkish FM was the first time Ankara has explicitly threatened to cut ties with Israel, having previously said it was reviewing relations with the Jewish state. However, Turkish officials stressed the nuances of the statement, international media reported. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Burak Özügergin, confirmed what Davutoğlu said about Turkey-Israel relations. He also mentioned, however, that "diplomatic break" does not necessarily mean that Turkey would not recognise Israel at all. Instead, the break would mean that relations would be affected "in a very negative way," he explained. Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman said his country had no intention of apologising. "We don't have any intention to apologise. We think that the opposite is true," he told reporters during a visit to Latvia, according to international media sources.

On 31 May nine people were killed when the Israeli navy intercepted ships carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists towards the Gaza Strip. The flotilla was organised, among others, by a Turkish human rights organisation and the nine people killed were Turkish nationals. Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel, cancelled joint military operations and barred Israeli military aircraft from Turkish airspace after the incident. Since then relations have been strained. The bloodshed sparked strong reactions of condemnation from the European Commission, the European Parliament and major political groups.

EU, US want to mediate
In an effort to ease the rift between its two allies, the White House announced that President Barack Obama is due to meet Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington today (6 July). Meanwhile, Italian FM Franco Frattini was quoted by French sources as saying yesterday that he would visit Gaza "in the next few weeks," together with French FM Bernard Kouchner and his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos.

The visit reportedly comes at the invitation of Mr Lieberman, who invited EU representatives to monitor the softening of import restrictions in the Gaza Strip, announcing plans to allow "civil" goods into the enclave. Frattini said he was worried about talk of "severing relations" between Israel and Turkey. "It is better to turn towards the future […] and wait for the results of the Israeli inquiry [over the flotilla attack]," he was quoted as saying.

However, Turkey is insisting on an international inquiry and rejects the idea that the instigators of the killings should also be the investigators. Speaking about the EU's reaction to the flotilla attack, Turkey's European Affairs Minister and chief EU negotiator Egemen Bagiş said the first reaction by Catherine Ashton, the Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, which called for an inquiry by Israel, had been "a joke" In that reaction, Ashton had called on the Israelis themselves to investigate the incident. But Bagiş added that the next statement by Ashton on behalf of the EU-27 had been better.

Sources: Euractiv; Hurriyet Daily; Reuters