A motion proposing the annulment of economic, military and political agreements between Turkey and Israel was voted down by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its ultra-nationalist ally the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in Parliament on Tuesday, the T24 news website reported.
The motion was submitted by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).
“A motion for parliamentary evaluation of the annulment of all political, economic and military agreements and the imposition of economic sanctions on Israel has been rejected by the votes of the AKP and MHP,” the HDP tweeted.
“AKP to continue with Israel,” said main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Ali Şeker in a tweet, underlining the gap between the words and deeds of the ruling party concerning Israeli and Palestine policy.
Meanwhile, Israel Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel ordered a freeze in the import of agricultural products from Turkey, following the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Ankara and statements made by Turkish President Erdoğan, Israelnationalnews.com reported on Tuesday.
According to the report, Minister Ariel said: “We won’t tolerate a country that preaches morality to the State of Israel with such hypocrisy. The security forces and the IDF soldiers fearlessly protect the residents of Israel.”
The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Wednesday also told Israel’s consul general in İstanbul, Yosef Levi Sfari, to leave the country “for a while.” According to diplomatic sources, the ministry told Sfari to leave following indiscriminate violence and killings by Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border.
Turkey’s consul general in Jerusalem was summoned by the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Tuesday and also asked to leave the country for an indefinite period of time.
In a statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Gürcan Türkoğlu was summoned and asked to return home, considering latest developments in bilateral relations between Jerusalem and Ankara.
At least 62 Palestinians were killed and thousands more injured by Israeli forces along the Gaza border on Monday. Thousands of Palestinians had gathered on the Gaza Strip’s eastern border to take part in protests aimed to commemorate the Nakba anniversary and protest the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Since the border rallies began on March 30, more than 100 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed by cross-border Israeli gunfire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Last week, the Israeli government said the ongoing border protests constituted a “state of war” in which international humanitarian law did not apply.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım on Tuesday called on Muslim countries to review their ties with Israel, a day after the incidents on the Gaza border.
President Erdoğan on Monday called Israel a “terror state” and added that “the assault on the Gaza protesters exposed Israel’s ugly face, one that is carrying out genocide in Gaza.”
Erdoğan on Tuesday tweeted “Netanyahu is the PM of an apartheid state that has occupied a defenseless people’s lands for 60+ yrs in violation of UN resolutions. He has the blood of Palestinians on his hands and can’t cover up crimes by attacking Turkey. Want a lesson in humanity? Read the 10 commandments.”
Erdoğan also sent a “reminder” to Netanyahu, claiming Hamas is not a terrorist organisation. “Reminder to Netanyahu: Hamas is not a terrorist organization and Palestinians are not terrorists. It is a resistance movement that defends the Palestinian homeland against an occupying power,” Erdoğan wrote on his official Twitter account.
“The world stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine against their oppressors,” Erdoğan added.
Ankara on Tuesday recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Tel Aviv to hold an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on May 18. In İstanbul on Monday, thousands protested the recent developments in Palestine.
Israel protested on Wednesday over what it called Turkey’s “unbecoming treatment” of its expelled ambassador, after the envoy was shown on Turkish media undergoing an airport security patdown in public view.
In response to Ambassador Eitan Naveh’s treatment, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it summoned the Turkish embassy’s charge d’affaires.
Meanwhile, Guatemala on Wednesday opened its embassy in Jerusalem, becoming the second country to open a diplomatic mission in the holy city after the United States. The opening ceremony was attended by Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyhau along with a host of officials from both countries.
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Palestine-Israel conflict, with Palestinians seeking East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967, as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.(SCF with turkishminute.com)
[…] Israel until after the elections – but his party already voted in Parliament to maintain the current state of affairs with Tel Aviv. The Turkish economy has also gone to the dogs in the past several weeks, a turn of […]