Israeli attack, a turning point?
Niyazi Dalyancı Turkey’s leadership was still discussing how to react to Israel’s bloody attack on the Turkish liner “Mavi Marmara” that left nine people dead while heads of state and government from the members of Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Ahmadinejad of Iran, Presidents of Azerbaijan and Afghanistan, Elham Aliyev and Hamid Karzai and Palestian Mahmoud Abbas converged in Istanbul for their fifth summit meeting. Israel, also a member of CICA was conspicuously absent from the summit. Israel’s attack on the ship carrying relief materials for Gaza along with five other ships from other countries forming the Gaza Peace Flotilla naturally dominated the statements made by the political leaders taking part in the summit. Putin, at a news conference with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan pointed out that the fact that the Israeli raid took place in the international waters “worthy of concern.” “The incident should be dealt with at the United Nations,” said the Russian prime minister. Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian administration described the Israeli attack as a “massacre of civilians,” and Ahmedinejad claimed “the raid is the beginning of the countdown for Israel’s destruction.” However, judging from the statements made by Turkish leaders, there was no clear plan how Turkey would react to Israel. “Israel will definitely pay for our dead,” declared Erdogan, while President Abdullah Gul adopted a milder attitude saying, “We shall never forgive Israel unless they come up with an acceptable rectification.” Over the weekend, deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Omer Celik said during a television program that military cooperation agreements with Israel will be nullified. Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul answering questions over Celik’s declaration referred the subject to the Foreign Ministry saying it does not […]