Agence France Presse
February 14, 2009 Saturday 3:02 PM GMT

Turkey slams Israel over general’s remarks

ANKARA, Feb 14 2009

Turkey on Saturday denounced as unacceptable critical remarks by an
Israeli general over a lingering spat sparked by Israel’s offensive in
Gaza last month and called for urgent clarification.

The remarks by Major General Avi Mizrahi, commander of the Israeli
defence forces’ army headquarters, contained "unacceptable claims and
nonsenses targeting our prime minister and our country," a foreign
ministry statement said.

The Israeli ambassador to Turkey was summoned to the foreign ministry
Saturday and handed a diplomatic note of protest, the statement said,
adding that "the Israeli authorities were asked for an urgent
clarification."

The Turkish media Friday quoted Mizrahi as saying that Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who vehemently criticised Israel’s
action in the Gaza Strip, "should first look in the mirror" and spoke
about Ottoman massacres of Armenians during World War I and the
Kurdish conflict in Turkey.

The Turkish military also denounced Mizrahi’s remarks, saying they
"distort the realities and are excessive, unfortunate and
unacceptable."

Such comments "can harm national interests in relations between the
two countries," the statement said.

"We expect the Israeli general staff, which we believe places
importance on relations with the Turkish armed forces, to clarify the
issue," it added.

The Gaza conflict has strained relations between Israel and Turkey, a
predominantly Muslim non-Arab nation which has been the Jewish state’s
main regional ally since the two signed a military cooperation accord
in 1996.

On January 29, Erdogan stormed out from a heated debate on the Gaza
war at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland after clashing
with Israeli President Shimon Peres.

Before walking off, he said Israel committed "barbarian" acts in Gaza,
told Peres that "you know well how to kill people" and lashed out at
the audience for applauding the Israeli president’s emotional defence
of the war.

Mizrahi’s remarks reportedly came at an international conference in
Israel on Tuesday in comments on Erdogan’s outburst, after which
Israel had sought to defuse tensions, saying that relations would
recover in time.

Israel’s 22-day offensive on Islamist Hamas-controlled Gaza left more
than 1,300 Palestinians dead and injured 5,300 others.