Barak tries to repair ties with Turkey
Source: Agencies |
January 18, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ISRAEL'S Defense Minister Ehud Barak met Turkey's foreign and defense ministers yesterday to try to repair ties between the allies that have been further strained last week by a diplomatic row in which Israel was forced to apologize for its treatment of the Turkish ambassador.
Barak is the first Israeli official to visit Turkey since the diplomatic feud that erupted last Monday after Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, summoned Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol to complain about a TV show. The ambassador was forced to sit on a low sofa without a handshake, while Ayalon told TV crews the humiliation was intentional.
Outraged, Turkey threatened to recall the ambassador, forcing Ayalon to apologize.
The quarrel was the latest in a series of disputes between the allies who had built strong ties over the past 15 years.
Making it worse
The visit was scheduled before the row, but is being closely watched for efforts to control the damage to the relationship that has also been hurt by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's frequent outbursts of fury over what he considers Israel's aggressive treatment of Palestinians.
Hours before Barak's departure, Ayalon said the Turkish ambassador could be expelled if Turkish TV dramas continue to depict Israeli security forces as brutal. The program that had incensed Ayalon showed Israeli agents kidnapping children and shooting old men. It was the second such program to be aired on Turkish television in recent months.
Turkish newspapers reacted harshly to Ayalon's latest comment. "Ayalon is talking nonsense again," the daily Milliyet and Yeni Safak newspapers said yesterday. The daily Radikal said in a banner headline: "Second episode in diplomatic shame."
Barak is the first Israeli official to visit Turkey since the diplomatic feud that erupted last Monday after Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, summoned Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol to complain about a TV show. The ambassador was forced to sit on a low sofa without a handshake, while Ayalon told TV crews the humiliation was intentional.
Outraged, Turkey threatened to recall the ambassador, forcing Ayalon to apologize.
The quarrel was the latest in a series of disputes between the allies who had built strong ties over the past 15 years.
Making it worse
The visit was scheduled before the row, but is being closely watched for efforts to control the damage to the relationship that has also been hurt by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's frequent outbursts of fury over what he considers Israel's aggressive treatment of Palestinians.
Hours before Barak's departure, Ayalon said the Turkish ambassador could be expelled if Turkish TV dramas continue to depict Israeli security forces as brutal. The program that had incensed Ayalon showed Israeli agents kidnapping children and shooting old men. It was the second such program to be aired on Turkish television in recent months.
Turkish newspapers reacted harshly to Ayalon's latest comment. "Ayalon is talking nonsense again," the daily Milliyet and Yeni Safak newspapers said yesterday. The daily Radikal said in a banner headline: "Second episode in diplomatic shame."
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