ISRAEL TRIES TO CALM TURKISH ROW
Abraham Rabiinovich, Jerusalem

The Australian
Jan 14 2010
Australia

ISRAEL’S Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon offered an indirect
apology yesterday for having deliberately humiliated a Turkish
diplomat after Ankara threatened to recall its ambassador to Israel
amid escalating tensions between the countries.

Mr Ayalon triggered the fresh row when he summoned the ambassador,
Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, to be rebuked for an anti-Israel television series
in Turkey depicting the Mossad as baby-snatchers and for attacks on
Israel by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Departing from diplomatic protocol, Mr Ayalon invited Israeli
television cameras to record the beginning of the meeting at which
the ambassador was seated on a couch a few centimetres lower than
the chairs on which Mr Ayalon and two colleagues were seated.

Mr Ayalon told the cameramen in Hebrew, which the Turkish envoy
does not speak: "Pay attention that he is sitting in a lower chair,
that there is only an Israeli flag on the table (and no Turkish flag)
and that we are not smiling."

The conversation that ensued in English between the diplomats after
the cameramen left was polite, both sides reported, and it was only
after learning of Mr Ayalon’s remark to the cameramen that Mr Celikkol
realised an attempt had been made to humiliate him.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Israel’s ambassador to Ankara,
Gaby Levy, to demand "an explanation and an apology" for Mr Ayalon’s
behaviour. The ministry issued a statement calling for "corrective
steps to be taken with respect to the treatment shown our ambassador"
and an official warned that without an apology, the ambassador would
be withdrawn.

In Israel, criticism of Mr Ayalon’s behaviour was widespread, even
among serving diplomats, several of whom called it, anonymously,
"an embarrassment" and "childish".

Mr Ayalon initially defended his action. "Others will respect us
only when we protect our honour," he said. Yesterday, however, he
issued a statement aimed at terminating the episode. "My protest of
the attacks against Israel in Turkey still stands," he said.

"However, it is not my way to insult foreign ambassadors and in the
future, I will clarify my position by more acceptable diplomatic
means."

There was no immediate indication from Ankara as to whether this was
considered adequate apology.

Mr Ayalon, a professional diplomat who served as Israeli ambassador
to Washington, began displaying hardline views after being chosen by
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman last year to serve as his deputy.

Mr Lieberman has called upon Israeli diplomats to make a forceful
response to perceived diplomatic insults and not to seek favour.

In a statement issued earlier this week, Israel condemned Mr Erdogan’s
"unbridled tongue-lashing" of Israel for its incursion into Gaza last
year. The Turkish Prime Minister has repeatedly accused Israel of
disproportionate use of force against the Palestinians. The Israeli
statement, alluding to Turkey’s actions against its own Kurdish
militants, and perhaps to its massacre of Armenians in World War I,
said "Turkey is the last country that can preach morality to Israel".

The falling-out is of significance to both countries. The close ties
that have existed for decades between them bear far-reaching political
and security resonance.