Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu criticized the Israeli government for keeping the region under constant tension with the use or threat of military force and said Tel Aviv’s current policies are apparently in conflict with Turkey’s vision of peace for the region. “Unfortunately the Gaza onslaught by Israeli defense forces against Palestinian civilians had halted all ongoing peace processes, including the Turkish mediated Syrian-Israeli indirect talks,” he lamented.
He warned that the continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories has been a source of tension between Turkey and Israel for many years. Settlement is also a major concern for many world powers including the US, the European Union, and Russia, all of which have called for an immediate halt to all illegal settlement expansion by the Israeli government.
As for the controversial status of Jerusalem, the Turkish foreign minister said, “We do not recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and believe that East Jerusalem is Palestinian territory,” pointing out the fact that the Turkish Embassy is located in Tel Aviv, which Turkey considers the official capital of the Jewish state.
Dismissing anti-Semitic accusations as baseless, Davutoğlu stressed that the Turkish government’s position is not directed against the Israeli public or the Israeli state but rather aimed at the policies adopted by the Israeli government. “We have no problem with the Israeli state or the public,” he remarked. The Turkish foreign minister pointed out that despite recent tension with Israel, Turkey has not withdrawn its ambassador from Tel Aviv.
Commenting on the exclusion of Israel from a NATO military exercise Turkey hosted last month due to the ongoing humanitarian tragedy in Gaza, Davutoğlu said Ankara had waited until the last minute to make the decision to bar Israel because Turkey was waiting on the result of US President Barack Obama’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu. “If there was progress during that meeting, we could have allowed Israel to participate in the military exercises,” he said, Today’s Zaman reported.
