TURKEY tr-diplomacy

Israel reacts to Erdoğan's Guardian words

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News | 10/26/2009 12:00:00 AM |

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s interview with the Guardian newspaper has further strained the already tense relations between Israel and Turkey.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s interview with the Guardian newspaper has further strained the already tense relations between Israel and Turkey.

During the interview, Erdoğan insisted the Turkey-Israel strategic alliance remains alive but chided the Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who he said had threatened to use nuclear weapons against Gaza.

The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Lieberman’s media consultant said “not every absurdity was worth considering.”

Another Israeli daily, Haaretz, wrote, “Turkey's prime minister has further inflamed simmering Israel-Turkey tensions.”

Meanwhile, in a televised interview with the Al Jazeera news channel on Monday, Erdoğan said remaining silent about the use of weapons of mass destruction by Israel in Gaza would be unfair. He did say, however, that a rupture in relations with Israel was out of the question.

The comments came amid a crisis in ties between the two allies, which erupted earlier in the month after Turkey banned Israel from participating in a NATO air force drill.

The crisis further deepened two weeks ago, when Ankara refused to censure a fictional television program that featured Israelis killing Palestinians.

In another incident, some 500 pro-Islamic Turks held an anti-Israel protest in Istanbul on Monday over violence at a Jerusalem holy site claimed by both Arabs and Jews.

The protesters marched toward the heavily guarded Israeli Consulate and burned an Israeli flag, chanting, "We will protect Al-Aqsa mosque." Muslims regard Al-Aqsa as Islam's third-holiest site.