Israel-Turkey: no handshake

Pyotr Lyukimson, Israel. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

Israeli and Turkish media report that at the the Munich Conference the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu pointedly refused to shake hands with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. In this case, Achmat Davuotogl shook hands with almost all participants.

"Apparently, the distance between us at the table was so large that the Turkish minister could not reach me,"  Ehud Barak joked. "It is not in the table," Davutoglu countered, "the distance between us is great, until you meet all our requirements."

The Israeli Defense Ministry commented that "this incident does not deserve attention, it is just one more manifestation of the crisis in relations between the countries."

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, during his visit to Turkey, said that his country sees the normalization of US-Turkish relations as one of the main objectives of its foreign policy. "Both Turkey and Israel are allies of America, and we see that it is very important that both countries return to work with each other, to restore  the historical union that has always linked the Jewish and Turkish peoples," John Kerry said.

At the same time, the U.S. Secretary of State condemned the recent statement by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which he equated Zionism with Nazism. "We do not just disagree with that statement, but also firmly oppose it," Kerry said.