|
http://www.haaretz.com/
The
Foreign Ministry on Sunday said Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan is attempting to integrate with the Muslim world
at the expense of his country's ties with Israel, hours after
Erdogan criticized Israel over actions in Jerusalem and Gaza.
"Israel is not interested in confrontation with any country,
including Turkey," said the Foreign Ministry in a statement.
"The impression that is being created is that the Turkish prime
minister is seeking to integrate with the Muslim world at
Israel's expense."
Erdogan on Monday addressed the heightened tension in Jerusalem,
saying that Turkey will come to the defense of Muslims around
the world, according to a report on CNN-Turk.
"We cannot be indifferent to the problems of the Islamic world
of Jerusalem," said Erdogan at a ceremony to mark the opening of
an Arab-language television and radio company.
"Our task is the integration with the Western world but we did
not turn our back to the East," Erdogan continued. "Arabs and
Turks are brothers and we share the same values."
The Turkish prime minister also said that the situation in Gaza
is inhumane. "We cannot watch the murder of children in Gaza
with indifference," he said. "We worry about the Gaza children
but our hearts are also for the children of Haiti and Chile."
The ministry continued, "We suggest he find a more creative way,
and to try to integrate with both the Muslim and Western worlds
without turning into an extremist leader in the style of Hugo
Chavez."
Moreover, the ministry added, in response to Erdogan's remarks
about concern over "the murder of children in Gaza with
indifference," that he should be equally concerned for the
killing of innocent civilians in Pakistan and Iraq at the hands
of terrorist groups.
Meanwhile, Turkish television reported Sunday that Ankara will
name a new ambassador to Israel to replace envoy Ahmet Oguz
Celikkol, who was humiliated in Israel earlier this year.
Private NTV television on Sunday reported that Celikkol, who
held the post for less than a year, will be be replaced this
summer by diplomat and expert on Middle Eastern affairs Kerim
Uras.
Celikkol was rebuked by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon
during a January meeting in which he summoned over an
anti-Israeli television show aired in Turkey, and was made to
sit in a chair lower than that of Ayalon, while the Turkish flag
was deliberately not put on display.
Ayalon later apologized for the incident.
|
