Official: Dictionary can resolve Israel-Turkey row
Hurriyet quotes sources as saying further talks possible in bid to resolve crisis over Gaza flotilla raid; Israeli source says reconciliation possible if different word for ‘apology’ can be found
Ynet
Published: 12.09.10, 00:02 / Israel News
This week’s reconciliation talks between Israel and Turkey, which were held in Geneva, concluded without an agreement, but diplomatic circles are not ruling out further talks to resolve the differences, Hurriyet reported Wednesday.
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The Turkish daily quoted sources as saying that the door for reconciliation remains open if the right formula can be found for an Israeli apology over the May 31 commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, which left nine Turkish citizens dead.
An Israeli apology is a key Turkish condition for reconciliation.
“If Turkey and Israel want to reach an agreement, they only need to open the Webster’s Dictionary to find a different word for ‘apology,’” a senior Israeli official was quoted by Hurriyet as saying.
According to the report, Israel is known to prefer to use the words “regret” or “sorry” instead of “apology” because “both its government and its people consider the dispatching of ships by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or İHH, to break Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip to be a provocative act.”
The Yedioth Ahronoth daily said Israel has agreed to pay the families of those killed during the raid $100,000 each.
On Tuesday Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “There is no such distinction as ‘the people’ or ‘the state.’ They (Israelis) must apologize to the Republic of Turkey.”
Hurriyet further reported that Israeli Ambassador to Turley Gabby Levy has asked that his term not be extended, in part due to the publication of American cables by WikiLeaks. In a cable sent last year by then-US envoy to Ankara James Jeffrey, Levy is quoted as saying about Erdoğan: “He’s a fundamentalist. He hates us religiously.”
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