On the 14th of December president of Turkey Abdullah Gul stated in his speech in the traditional Vienna Forum that relations between Turkey and Israel wouldn’t get better until Tel-Aviv stops violence against Palestinians and finds common language with all Palestinian movements, including terrorist HAMAS. Israel considered Gul demands new impossible conditions of conciliatory between two states.
Many participants of the forum were surprised that the president of Turkey complemented HAMAS and its general secretary Haled Mashal, whom he called a pure democratic leader. It is interesting that when Gul spoke at the forum in Vienna, in Gaza the demonstration devoted to the 25th anniversary of HAMAS foundation was held. The leader of the terrorist organization Ismail Hanim proudly stated that during these years HMAS committed 1117 terrorist attacks in Israel in which 1365 Jews were killed and 6411 were hurt. 11093 missiles were launched toward Israel’s territory. The greatest achievement of the organization Hanim called establishment of effective army, which can free Palestine and destroy Israel.
Israel says that having any relations with such “democrats” is unacceptable. Thus, new conditions expressed by Gul mean continuation of the crisis in Israel-Turkish relations.
The minister of defense of Israel Ehud Barak in his report at the Vienna forum touched on Israeli-Turkish relations as well: “Turkey is the most important state of the region, and of course we would like to return of friendly relations with it. I remind you that right after death of people in Mavi-Marmara ship I expressed grief about the incident and its heavy circumstances. But I don’t regret about Gaza’s blockade and the fact we stopped this ship. In this issue our positions with Turkey don’t coincide.”
Political observers note that in the context of such “exchange of civilities” between Israeli and Turkish leaders it is difficult to say who is right and who is wrong.
At the same time, the prime minister of Israel Binyamin Netanyahu said that normalization of relations with Turkey is one of main objectives of Israeli diplomacy.
Petr Lukimson, Israel. Exclusively to VK
