Turkey began implementing what its foreign minister Ahmet Davutoğlu called"plan B' in his ultimatum yesterday demanding Israel apologize and pay compensation to Turkey over the May, 2010 raid on the flotilla ship Mavi Mamara, which occurred when the ship was attempting to break the Israeli naval blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Davutoğlu announced that Turkey was was expelling Israeli Ambassador Gabby Levy from Ankara and that Turkey's diplomatic representation in Israel would be further reduced to second-secretary level...a kind of diplomatic insult. All Israeli diplomatic personnel above the second-secretary level have also been expelled.
The Turkish government also announced that they are rejecting the UN's Palmer Report which investigated the Mavi Mamera affair. The report stated that Israel's blockade of the Hamas ruled Gaza-Strip is legal under international law and criticized Turkey for its support of the flotilla and the IHH 'activists' who violently attacked Israeli Naval Commandos when they boarded the ship after the Mavi Mamera refused Israeli orders to sail into the port of Ashdod to have their cargo inspected.
Turkey also announced that they are severing all military trade and ties with Israel.
Both the expelling of Israel's ambassador and the cut off of military trade by Turkey are pretty much meaningless in practical terms. Turkey already recalled its own ambassador from Israel long ago, Israeli Ambassador Levy was already out of the country and at the end of his assignment, and military trade was ended a long time ago as well - by Israel. "Military trade with Turkey was suspended a while ago… we didn’t want to risk any weapons made in Israel falling into the wrong hands," said one unnamed Israeli government source.
As strained as relations between Israel and Turkey already were this simply makes official something the Islamist Erdogan government has wanted to do ever since it took power. The Turks refused any Israeli attempts at compromise and insisted on a formal apology, huge compensation and the removal of the Gaza Blockade,which would be suicidal for Israel. And there was never any guarantee from Turkey that normal relations would be restored anyway...for the very good reason that Turks really weren't interested, which is why they insisted on conditions Israel could not accept without severely damaging her security.
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3 comments:
BUT - DURING THE LAST YEAR
nobody goes to turkey except the arabs, and Turkey is buying a lot more from Israel
The two countries trade about $3 billion annually between them...mainly hi tech and diamonds from Israel, clothing, textiles and metals from Turkey and agricultural products and foodstuffs both ways.
The Turks actually export slightly more to Israel than the other way around.
That's mainly because the Turks used to buy a lot of weaponry from Israel, but that was suspended by Israel pretty much since the Erdogan government developed an Islamist hard on for the Jewish state.
What Turkey sells to Israel, Israel can easily get elsewhere. But what Turkey gets from Israel is not so easily or economically replaced.
Another factor. There are 23,000 Jews living in Turkey, G-d knows why. You connect the dots on that one.
I kind of like how it looks like he has devil horns in that picture.
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