{"id":19556,"date":"2010-06-08T00:10:29","date_gmt":"2010-06-07T22:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=19556"},"modified":"2014-01-05T23:57:14","modified_gmt":"2014-01-05T21:57:14","slug":"israel-faces-deepening-tensions-with-turkey-over-raid-and-bond-with-u-s-frays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2010\/06\/08\/israel-faces-deepening-tensions-with-turkey-over-raid-and-bond-with-u-s-frays\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Faces Deepening Tensions With Turkey Over Raid, and Bond With U.S. Frays"},"content":{"rendered":"<h6>By MARK  LANDLER<\/h6>\n<h6>Published: June 4, 2010<\/h6>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\nvar articleToolsShareData = {\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nytimes.com\\\/2010\\\/06\\\/05\\\/world\\\/middleeast\\\/05mideast.html\",\"headline\":\"Israel Faces Deepening Tensions With Turkey Over Raid, and Bond With U.S. Frays\",\"description\":\"Tensions deepened between Turkey and Israel, and a new fissure threatened to open between the U.S. and Israel from the fallout of Israel\\u2019s deadly raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla off Gaza.\",\"keywords\":\"International Relations,United States International Relations,Embargoes and Economic Sanctions,Free Gaza Movement,Israel,Turkey\",\"section\":\"world\",\"sub_section\":\"middleeast\",\"section_display\":\"World\",\"sub_section_display\":\"Middle East\",\"byline\":\"By <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"\\\">MARK LANDLER<\\\/a>\",\"pubdate\":\"June 4, 2010\",\"passkey\":null};\nfunction getShareURL() {\n    return encodeURIComponent(articleToolsShareData.url);\n}   \nfunction getShareHeadline() {\n    return encodeURIComponent(articleToolsShareData.headline);\n}   \nfunction getShareDescription() {\n    return encodeURIComponent(articleToolsShareData.description);\n}   \nfunction getShareKeywords() {\n    return encodeURIComponent(articleToolsShareData.keywords);\n}   \nfunction getShareSection() {\n    return encodeURIComponent(articleToolsShareData.section);\n}\nfunction getShareSubSection() {\n\treturn encodeURIComponent(articleToolsShareData.sub_section);\n}\nfunction getShareSectionDisplay() {\n    return encodeURIComponent(articleToolsShareData.section_display);\n}\nfunction getShareSubSectionDisplay() {\n    return encodeURIComponent(articleToolsShareData.sub_section_display);\n}\nfunction getShareByline() {\n    return encodeURIComponent(articleToolsShareData.byline);\n}   \nfunction getSharePubdate() {\n    return encodeURIComponent(articleToolsShareData.pubdate);\n}   \nfunction getSharePasskey() {\n    return encodeURIComponent(articleToolsShareData.passkey);\n}\n\/\/ ]]><\/script>WASHINGTON \u2014 Tensions deepened between Turkey and Israel<\/span> on Friday, and a new fissure threatened to open between the United   States and Israel, as the three countries continued to deal with the fallout  from Israel\u2019s deadly raid on a  humanitarian aid <span class=\"removed_link\" title=\"http:\/\/topics.nytimes.com\/top\/reference\/timestopics\/organizations\/f\/free_gaza_movement\/index.html?inline=nyt-org\">flotilla<\/span> off Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>A senior Turkish diplomat warned that his country might sever  diplomatic  relations with Israel unless its government apologized for  the attack,  in which nine Turkish citizens were killed; consented to an   international investigation; and lifted its blockade of Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIsrael is about to lose a friend; this is going to be a historical   mistake,\u201d said the diplomat, Namik Tan, Turkey\u2019s ambassador to   Washington. \u201cThe future of our relationship will be determined by   Israel\u2019s actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Israeli officials refused Turkey\u2019s demands, saying their commandos  acted  in self-defense after activists on one ship set upon them with  knives,  clubs and metal rods. Israel also took issue with the Obama   administration\u2019s assertion that the United States had warned Israeli   officials to exercise caution and restraint in intercepting the   flotilla.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was not contacted by anyone in the administration about this,\u201d  said  Michael B. Oren, Israel\u2019s ambassador to the United States. Mr.  Oren said  he was not aware that anybody else in the Israeli government  had been  called and was seeking clarification from the administration.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesman for the State Department, Philip J. Crowley, said the  United  States had \u201cextensive contacts\u201d with Israel and Turkey before  the  flotilla set sail. \u201cWe expressed to the Israelis the need for  caution  and restraint in dealing with civilians, including American  citizens,\u201d  he said.<\/p>\n<p>With another aid ship steaming toward Gaza, this one from Ireland,  the  United States seems determined to avoid a repeat of the last raid.  The  White House issued a statement on Friday urging the ship, the <a title=\"More articles about Rachel Corrie.\" href=\"http:\/\/topics.nytimes.com\/top\/reference\/timestopics\/people\/c\/rachel_corrie\/index.html?inline=nyt-per\">Rachel   Corrie, to instead go to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where its  cargo  could be unloaded and shipped to Gaza.<\/p>\n<p>The dispute over who said what to whom symbolizes the fragility of  the  mood between the United States and Israel. The administration  initially  resisted worldwide condemnation of Israel, watering down a United   Nations resolution that could have placed the blame on Israel.  Vice  President Joseph   R. Biden Jr. voiced support for Israel.<\/p>\n<p>But privately, President   Obama and other officials have pressed Israeli leaders to do more  to  alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Administration officials   said they were working to devise an investigation that would satisfy  the  Turkish demand for international involvement, while being  acceptable to  the Israelis, who said they would reject outside  oversight.<\/p>\n<p>The deepening imbroglio does not appear to have derailed the   administration\u2019s most pressing diplomatic priority: imposing new United   Nations sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. Administration   officials and European diplomats said that despite opposition from   Turkey and Brazil, the Security Council was on track to pass a   resolution in the next two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The focus now, officials said, was on trying to persuade these two   countries to abstain rather than vote against a resolution. Turkey and   Brazil brokered a last-minute deal with Tehran to further enrich some of   its uranium outside the country. But the Obama administration threw   cold water on the agreement, saying it did not address all the issues.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Tan declined to say how Turkey would vote in the Council. But he   said that Turkey believed that sanctions were a mistake, and that  Turkey  and Brazil had pursued their agreement with the administration\u2019s   blessing.<\/p>\n<p>The United States has tried to mollify Turkey, with long meetings and   phone calls to Turkish leaders by Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary   Rodham Clinton. Mr. Tan said Turkey appreciated American pressure   on Israel to release the passengers and return the bodies from the  ship.  But he repeated Turkey\u2019s disappointment over the Americans\u2019  refusal to  condemn Israel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no word of condemnation, nowhere,\u201d said Mr. Tan, who was  once  Turkey\u2019s ambassador to Israel.<\/p>\n<p>In Turkey, the vitriol toward Israel continued. Deputy Prime Minister   Bulent Arinc told Turkish television that Turkey could reduce its   relations with Israel \u201cto a minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Recep   Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of breaking the biblical commandment   against killing. Mr. Erdogan also talked in favorable terms about Hamas,  which  controls Gaza, calling the group \u201cactivists in a struggle to  defend  themselves.\u201d Israel and the United States consider Hamas a  terrorist  group.<\/p>\n<p>American officials are watching the rift with growing alarm. Turkey\u2019s   deepening cooperation with Israel was one of the most promising   diplomatic developments in the Middle East over the past decade, said a   senior administration official. \u201cWe\u2019re not taking anything for  granted,\u201d  said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity  because of  the delicacy of the situation. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen how much emotion  there is in  Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The administration, he said, is studying proposals for an Israeli-run   investigation that could include outside participants. One model would   be South Korea\u2019s international investigation of the torpedo attack  that  sank its warship in March.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli officials do not dismiss the idea of international   participation, but one said, \u201cWe\u2019re not there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By MARK LANDLER Published: June 4, 2010 WASHINGTON \u2014 Tensions deepened between Turkey and Israel on Friday, and a new fissure threatened to open between the United States and Israel, as the three countries continued to deal with the fallout from Israel\u2019s deadly raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla off Gaza. A senior Turkish diplomat [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":782149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[128],"class_list":["post-19556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}