TURKEY: Prime Minister Erdogan vows to continue acting against Israel over flotilla raid

Record ID: 217439

  • Title: TURKEY: Prime Minister Erdogan vows to continue acting against Israel over flotilla raid
  • Date: 7th September 2011
  • Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (SEPTEMBER 6, 2011) (REUTERS) ERDOGAN AND ZAPATERO ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) TURKISH PRIME MINISTER TAYYIP ERDOGAN SAYING: "We waited until the end of the UN panel process, but than new developments have arisen. After those Israeli actions, we had to take a step and we took it but this is not the final step." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROG
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA69I14JLDQOPGXID1S2TKCZD62
  • Story Text: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday (September 6) that Turkey has yet to say the final word against Israel over a Gaza-bound flotilla attack during which nine people were killed.
    "We waited until the end of the UN panel process, but than new developments have arisen. After those Israeli actions, we had to take a step and we took it but this is not the final step," Erdogan told a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Ankara. "Within the shortest time period we must reach a conclusion. We are not taking any step which may hurt Turkey. We think that this is an important step for the region and we make our decision in accordance with a wider conversation."
    Turkey is freezing defence trade with Israel and stepping up naval patrols in the eastern Mediterranean, highlighting a potentially destabilising rift between the two major U.S. allies in the Middle East.
    Erdogan's threat on Tuesday to send warships into waters where Israel's navy operates raises the risk of a naval confrontation between the two powers.
    Ties with Israel began to unravel after Erdogan voiced outrage at an Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group, in late 2008 and early 2009.
    Before that Turkey and Israel had worked closely together on military cooperation and intelligence sharing, as both had sought reliable partners in a volatile neighbourhood.
    On Friday (September 2), Turkey announced it was expelling Israel's ambassador and other senior diplomats, downgrading relations after the release of a U.N. report on the killing of nine Turks during an Israeli commando raid on an aid flotilla that aimed to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza last year.
    Israel's refusal to apologise for the deaths has angered Turkey, a NATO member with the bloc's second biggest military.
    Spanish Foreign Minister Zapatero said he hoped the parties would reach an understanding.
    "I understand the position of the Turkish prime minister. What happened with the Gaza flotilla should have consequences. I understand that Turkey wants a reparation and I hope that Turkey and Israel can reach an agreement despite the difficulties," Zapatero said.
    Zapatero also addressed the economic state of Spain which agreed last month to enact tougher austerity measures in return for support from the European Central Bank in buying their sovereign bonds to ease fierce market pressure on their borrowing costs.
    Spain's Senate votes to reform the constitution to limit structural deficits at the central and regional governments.
    The reform is likely to pass as both the governing Socialists and the centre-right opposition People's Party, favourite to win a Nov. 20 general election, are in favour and the lower house has already overwhelmingly approved it.
    "Everything indicated that we were going to have serious financial tensions during the month of September and possibly October. There is an underlying problem with Greece which continues to cause worries and until there is a clear and firm answer to this problem we will continue in this way," he said.
    Last month Spain's bond yields came perilously close to levels which forced Greece and others to ask for bailouts, and recovered only after the sustained campaign of ECB bond-buying.
    Spain's deficit is at the heart of concerns that it may need a bailout like Greece, which has been plagued by social unrest over austerity measures.
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