ISRAEL SAYS TURKISH PM’S CRITICISMS ENDANGER TIES
By Dan Williams

Vision Insights and New Horizons
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Jan 11 2010

JERUSALEM, Jan 11 (Reuters) – Israel issued a strong condemnation
of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, saying his often
fierce public criticism of its policies could undermine relations.

Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but secular country, is a key ally
of the Jewish state but ties have frayed since the Gaza Strip war a
year ago, which killed some 1,400 Palestinians and drew censure from
Erdogan, head of the Islamist-rooted AK party.

Hosting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in Ankara, Erdogan
criticised an Israeli air strike that killed three Gazan militants
on Sunday, and suggested Western scrutiny on Iran’s nuclear plans
was unfair given Israel’s assumed atomic arsenal.

"Israel is careful to respect Turkey and seeks continued proper
ties between the countries, but we expect reciprocity," the Israeli
Foreign Ministry said in a statement, calling Erdogan’s remarks an
"unbridled tongue-lashing".

"The State of Israel has the full right to protect its citizens from
the missiles and terror of Hamas and Hezbollah, and the Turks are the
last who can preach morality to the State of Israel and the Israel
Defence Force (military)."

The veiled dig at Turkey’s own military conduct broke with Israel’s
long-standing official reticence on the matter.

An Israeli army general was reprimanded by the top brass in February
for saying in a newspaper interview that Turkey should remember its
past treatment of Kurds, Armenians and Greek Cypriots before weighing
in on behalf of the Palestinians.

Asked about the tenor of the Foreign Ministry statement, an Israeli
diplomat, speaking on condition on anonymity, said it aimed to avert
what Israel saw as Erdogan’s erosion of ties. "We value the Turks
and want them to wake up and realise what their prime minister risks
doing," the diplomat said.

DIPLOMACY AND DRAMA

Erdogan brokered short-lived peace negotiations between Israel
and Syria in 2008, and has voiced umbrage at the current Israeli
government’s refusal to return to the indirect talks.

Some Israeli officials have argued that Erdogan’s remarks on the
Gaza offensive — on one occasion made in a public shouting match
with Israeli President Shimon Peres — and his burgeoning relations
with Iran invalidated him as a mediator.

Yet Israel is also troubled by signs of spreading hostility among
regular Turks.

The Foreign Ministry complained to the Turkish ambassador on Monday
over a Turkish television drama that portrayed Israeli diplomats as
masterminds of a child-abduction ring, calling it anti-Semitic.

There was similar outrage last year over a Turkish series which
featured Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian children.

Israel says it went to war in Gaza to stem Palestinian rocket and
mortar salvoes. A resumption in the cross-border shelling last week
prompted Sunday’s air strike, Israel said. Three members of the
Islamic Jihad militant group were killed.

At his press conference with Hariri, Erdogan questioned Israel’s
justification for the strike.

"Why did you bomb Gaza? What was there? Are you going to say they were
firing rockets again? We are looking into the matter ourselves. Right
now there are no rockets coming from Gaza."

Turning to Iran’s nuclear programme, which Tehran insists is peaceful
while Western powers see a covert military programme, Erdogan said:
"Those who warn Iran about nuclear weapons, don’t make the same
warning to Israel. Israel has nuclear weapons."

(Writing by Dan Williams; Additional reporting by Ibon Villelabeitia
in Ankara; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)