Pyotr Lyukimson, Israel. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Israeli journalists are indignant: it appeared the former minister of finance of Turkey, Kemal Unakitan, stayed in Israel for 2.5 months, but they were told about this only on his day of departure.
Officially Kemal Unakitan visited Israel for health treatment – he treated kidney failure in the Tel Aviv Center of Cell-Based and Immune Therapy. This was an absolutely new approach to health treatment, developed by Israeli doctors. It enables patients not to undergo dialysis regularly. However, according to some sources, Unakitan didn’t spent all the time in hospital and held a series of secret meetings with the top officials of Israel.
Considering the fact that Unakitan (who headed the Ministry of Finance of Turkey in 2002-2009 and is thought to be of the most successful ministers of the last decade) is a prominent activists of the Party of Justice and is a member of Premier Erdogan’s close environment, he probably had special authority to conduct the talks.
It is likley the visit by Kemal Unakitan to Israel influenced the recent suggestion by the Defense Minister of Israel Ehud Barack to apologize to Turkey for “operational mistakes” during the interception of “Mavi-Marmara.” According to Barack, the apology should lead to normalization of relations between two countries. However, Premier Netanyahu rejected suggestion of his minister because it can improve Turkey’s confidence of its rightness and worsen Turkish demands.
