ISRAEL ARMY CHIEF REGRETS GENL’S REMARKS ABOUT TURKEY
EasyBourse.com
Feb 20 2009
France
ANKARA (AFP)–Israel’s army chief has said he "regrets" remarks made
last week by a top general about Turkey which fanned tensions between
the two countries over the Gaza conflict, Anatolia news agency quoted
a Turkish army spokesman as saying Friday.
Israeli Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi called his Turkish counterpart,
Ilker Basbug, Monday to say that "he values relations with the Turkish
armed forces, that the remarks did not represent the views of the
Israeli army…and that he regrets them," spokesman Metin Gurak
told reporters.
Ashkenazi also sent Basbug a letter along similar lines, he said.
The head of the Israeli army headquarters, Avi Mizrahi, said earlier
this month that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who
harshly criticized Israel’s war in Gaza, "should first look in the
mirror" and spoke of Ottoman massacres of Armenians during World War
I and the Kurdish conflict in Turkey.
Turkey rejected the remarks as "unacceptable claims and nonsenses"
and demanded an urgent explanation.
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 co-operation accord
in 1996.
In January, Erdogan stormed out from a heated debate on the Gaza
war at the World Economic Forum in Davos 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 defense
of the war.