Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Ya'alon takes on Erdogan


Vice premier tells gathering in Tel Aviv: 'How can you trust a government that consorts with Iran and Hamas?'

Aviel Magnezi
Published: 09.07.11
Israel News

Vice premier confronts the Turkish prime minister: "How can you trust a government that consorts with Iran and Hamas?" wondered Minister Moshe Ya'alon during a conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

The vice premier, who addressed a 'Calcalist' gathering, continued his assault on Recep Tayip Erdogan, saying that "since his government rose to power, Turkey has decided to turn east instead of west. Turkey turned into an Islamic republic from a secular republic." a'alon also referred to the question of whether Israel should apologize for the incident on board the Mavi Marmara, in which nine Turkish activists were killed. "We are talking about a phenomenon that goes beyond this specific incident. The goal is to defeat the State of Israel. If someone thinks that one word can settle the matter, he fails to understand."



Ya'alon, who was involved in efforts to bring about reconciliation between Turkey and Israel, added that "what happened during the flotilla was without a doubt a Turkish provocation."


According to Ya'alon, "We had no intention to end the incident with fatalities but the soldiers had no other choice but to defend themselves. The result was not good and we tried to resolve the crisis later on.
"


Ya'alon also reacted to criticism voiced by Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni against the Netanyahu government's conduct during the crisis.



"Israel is not at fault for the situation with Turkey. I regret hearing the Opposition chairwoman say that the absence of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks led to the situation with Turkey. Whoever says that in an interview is asking for outside pressure. Perhaps he fails to understand or perhaps he is driven by political interests."

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