Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has given Israel an ultimatum to officially apologize for the killing of Turkish citizens in the takeover of the Mavi Marmara, which was part of the Gaza flotilla in May 2010, or Turkey will sever its diplomatic relations.
Tomorrow, the UN Palmer Commission is due to publish its report on the incident, and Turkey set the publication as the deadline for receiving an apology from Israel. Davutoğlu said that if no apology is received, Turkey will begin implementation of its contingency plan, which includes measures to cool relations with Israel and the commencement of international legal action.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a similar threat last week, when he said that he would not be satisfied with the severing of economic ties with Israel, but would suspend all relations.
After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had no intention of meeting the Turks' demands, despite heavy US pressure to do so, a senior Turkish source said that Ankara would pursue Israel in various international forums, until Israel apologized.
Paralleling Israel's refusal to apologize, the US is continuing its efforts for Turkey to end the tensions with Israel, in order to avoid more shocks in the Middle East, considering Turkey's strong regional influence. However, Washington is finding it difficult to achieve any real results from these efforts because it lacks the necessary tools. The US provides no financial aid to Turkey, in contrast to Egypt, for example.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 1, 2011
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