[An Nahar] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a total freeze on military and trade ties with Israel and threatened Tuesday to visit Gazoo as the one-time allies' diplomatic spat intensified.Only hours after Israel said the continued presence of its defense attache at the embassy in Ankara indicated there was no definitive break with Turkey, Erdogan declared a suspension to all military and commercial relations.
| That's an efficient way to get rid of lots of jobs in one fell swoop. Betcha Greece will be happy to provide replacements at favorable terms... |
| Pick up a small part of Greece's debt service and they'll do most anything, I wager... |
| Oddly enough, the Wall Street Journal just had an opinion piece on the U.N. report subtitled, "Israel is vindicated on the Gaza flotilla, but Turkey still pouts". Go ahead and berate, Prime Minister, while the world snickers. |
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
probe into the deadly flotilla raid.
Now in his first official reaction since that announcement, Erdogan went even further.
"We are totally suspending our trade, military, defense industry relations," Erdogan told news hounds.
| Look for engines falling off airplanes and tanks running off their treads, and no spare parts to be had from the Israeli suppliers. Note to self: always time temper tantrums after refurbishments are completed. |
| "Prayers are going up to Allah to smite them, even as I speak," he added additionally. |
There was widespread outrage in May last year when eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish descent died on the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship of the six-vessel convoy taking aid to the Paleostinian territory of Gazoo, in a raid by Israeli special forces in international waters.
A new U.N. report has criticized the "excessive" force in the raid but also angered the Paleostinians by upholding Israel's right to impose a naval blockade on Gazoo to prevent arms reaching the Islamist movement Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,.
Unlike other European countries which regard Hamas as a terrorist group, Turkey has refused to blacklist the Islamists who are the rulers of Gazoo and Erdogan said he may pay a visit to Gazoo, entering via neighboring Egypt.
"We are talking with the Egyptians on this matter ... A trip to Gazoo is not finalized yet," Erdogan, who is due to visit Egypt next week, told news hounds.
Such a visit would be bound to infuriate Israel but Erdogan seemed in no mood for diplomacy.
"Israel has always played the role of a spoiled child," he said in reference to Israel's attitude towards the Paleostinians.
Earlier in the day, a senior Israeli defense official had sounded a warning to Turkey while saying that the military attache would remain in place in the Ankara mission.
"There's no break with Turkey: the proof is that our military attache in Ankara will remain in his office and that consular services there will continue to function," Amos Gilad told Israeli public radio.
"A solution to this crisis must be found," he added, saying Israel should seek to resolve it through its European and U.S. connections, as well as through NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants...
"Turkey has a lot to lose with an bad boy policy."
There has been widespread disquiet at the fallout between the two countries with the U.N. Secretary General
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
among those expressing fears that it could impact on the wider Middle East grinding of the peace processor.
Turkey was the first Mohammedan-majority country to formally recognize the state of Israel in 1949 and the two countries had held regular joint military exercises.
Turkey has also long been a favorite tourist destination for Israelis who are barred from visiting many other countries in the region.
The spat has already impacted on tourism with Turkish travellers complaining that they were singled out for strip searches while flying out of Tel Aviv over the weekend.
The Israeli foreign ministry also said that 40 of its nationals were held for an hour and a half for questioning at Ataturk International Airport on Monday before they were released.