<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Turkey PM declares Israeli ties&nbsp;freeze]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>Daily News Egypt | Sept 6, 2011<br />
<img src="https://i1.wp.com/thedailynewsegypt.com/images/stories/2011/September_2011/09_September06_2011/erdogan.jpg" alt="" width="663" height="330" /></p>
<p><strong>By Fulya Ozerkan /Agence France-Presse September 6, 2011, 6:54 pm</strong></p>
<p>ANKARA: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a total freeze on military and trade ties with Israel Tuesday and threatened to visit Gaza as the one-time allies&#8217; diplomatic spat intensified.</p>
<p>As Israel insisted that it wanted to avoid relations becoming even worse, Erdogan declared a suspension to all military and commercial links.</p>
<p>And despite pleas from top diplomats at the weekend to end their row over last year&#8217;s attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, the prime minister risked further offence by berating Israel for behaving like &#8220;a spoilt child&#8221;.</p>
<p>Last week, Turkey announced that the Israeli ambassador Gaby Levy was being expelled and all bilateral military agreements were suspended as it angrily rejected the findings of a United Nations probe into the deadly flotilla raid.</p>
<p>Now in his first official reaction since that announcement, Erdogan went even further.<br />
&#8220;We are totally suspending our trade, military, defense industry relations,&#8221; he told reporters.</p>
<p>&#8220;Further sanctions&#8221; against Israel would follow, he added.</p>
<p>However his office later clarified that Erdogan did not mean a suspension to commercial ties in general but merely &#8220;in the defense industry area&#8221;.</p>
<p>Once Israel&#8217;s closest friend in the Muslim world, Turkey has been increasingly critical of the Jewish state since Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002.</p>
<p>There was widespread outrage in May last year when eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish descent died on the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship of the six-vessel convoy taking aid to the Palestinian territory of Gaza, in a raid by Israeli special forces in international waters.</p>
<p>A new UN report has criticized the &#8220;excessive&#8221; force in the raid but also angered the Palestinians by upholding Israel&#8217;s right to impose a naval blockade on Gaza to prevent arms reaching the Islamist movement Hamas.</p>
<p>Unlike other European countries which regard Hamas as a terrorist group, Turkey has refused to blacklist the Islamists who are the rulers of Gaza and Erdogan said he may pay a visit to Gaza, entering via neighboring Egypt.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are talking with the Egyptians on this matter &#8230; A trip to Gaza is not finalized yet,&#8221; Erdogan, who is due to visit Egypt next week, told reporters.</p>
<p>Such a visit would be bound to infuriate Israel but Erdogan seemed in no mood for diplomacy.</p>
<p>&#8220;Israel has always played the role of a spoilt child,&#8221; he said in reference to Israel&#8217;s attitude towards the Palestinians.</p>
<p>Speaking after Erdogan&#8217;s comments, an Israeli official said the government there did not want its relationship with Turkey to deteriorate any further.</p>
<p>&#8220;Israel does not want to see a further deterioration in its relations with Turkey,&#8221; he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.</p>
<p>&#8220;Over the past few months, there have been numerous attempts to create a positive dynamic in keeping the relationship between Jerusalem and Ankara but so far, those efforts have not succeeded.&#8221;</p>
<p>Another Israeli official said the government was doing everything it could to try to limit the deterioration of the relationship, and not unwittingly cause it to worsen by getting into a war of words with Ankara.</p>
<p>Earlier in the day, Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli defense official, had sounded a warning to Turkey against pursuing &#8220;an extremist policy&#8221; while saying that the military attache would remain in place in the Ankara mission.</p>
<p>There has been widespread disquiet at the fallout between the two countries with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon among those expressing fears that it could impact on the wider Middle East peace process.</p>
<p>Turkey was the first Muslim-majority country to formally recognize the state of Israel in 1949 and the two countries had held regular joint military exercises.</p>
<p>Turkey has also long been a favorite tourist destination for Israelis who are barred from visiting many other countries in the region.</p>
<p>The spat has already impacted on tourism with Turkish travelers complaining they were singled out for strip searches while flying out of Tel Aviv at the weekend.</p>
<p>The Israeli foreign ministry said 40 of its nationals were held for an hour and a half for questioning at Istanbul airport on Monday before they were released.<br />
<a href="http://thedailynewsegypt.com/region/turkey-pm-declares-israeli-ties-freeze.html">Source</a></p>
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