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Category: Middle East

Turkey demands $1m for each flotilla fatality

By GLOBES/LILACH WEISSMAN, JPOST.COM STAFF

Ankara, J’lem at odds on compensation, as Israel is only willing to pay $100,000 for each Turk killed in ‘Mavi Marmara’ raid; Turkish PM says Turkey will become more involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Mavi Marmara Photo: Stringer Turkey / Reuters

There are huge gaps between Israel and Turkey over the level of compensation to be paid to the families of the nine Turks that were killed in the Mavi Marmara IDF raid. While Turkey is demanding $1 million for each person killed, Israel is prepared to pay $100,000.

The nine Turkish activists died when IDF commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara, which was part of a flotilla attempting to break the Gaza blockade in May 2010.

On Friday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, voicing regret for the loss of life in the Mavi Marmara incident, and apologizing for any mistakes that led to the death of nine Turkish activists. Breaking a three-year deadlock, the two agreed to normalize relations.

Turkey conditioned the normalizing of relations with an official apology, compensation for the bereaved families of the nine Turkish activists, and the removal of the Israeli Gaza blockade.

Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni is mediating the compensation talks between Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Israel. She has spoken to Davutoglu over the past few days and the two countries have agreed to set up a joint committee to discuss the amount of compensation to be paid.

Technical teams that will discuss this issue – the Israeli team led by Joseph Ciechanover and the Turkish one by Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, a former ambassador to Israel – are expected to begin meetings this week. In past negotiations between the two countries over the compensation issue, the idea was for Israel to pay directly into a Turkish fund set up for the families, and not to the families individually.

On Tuesday, Erdogan told the Turkish parliament that now that relations with Israel were on the mend, Ankara is going to become more involved in “solving the Palestinian question and thus bringing about a new equation.”

He also added that the wording of Netanyahu’s apology was done under US President Barack Obama’s supervision, and that the phone conversation was recorded and written statements were issued by all three parties, according to Turkish daily Hurriyet.

Herb Keinon contributed to this report.

via Turkey demands $1m for each flotilla fatality | JPost | Israel News.

March 28, 2013
Israel, Turkey begin raid compensation talks after apology

Monday, 25 March 2013

A billboard on a main street by the Ankara municipality to thank Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reads: “ We are grateful to you ” – three days after Israel’s appology. (AFP)

AFP, Ankara –

Israel and Turkey began talks Monday on compensation for the families of victims of a deadly 2010 flotilla raid, for which the Jewish state apologized last week, ending a near three-year diplomatic rift.

“Officials delegated by the two sides will work on the compensation issue. We gave the kick start for it today,” Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting.

Ties between Israel and Turkey plummeted in May 2010 when Israeli commandos staged a botched pre-dawn raid on a six-ship flotilla to the Gaza Strip, killing nine Turkish nationals.

The assault triggered an international outcry and a bitter diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel, with Ankara demanding a formal apology and compensation for the families of the victims.

Until last week, Israel had refused. But on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkey for the raid — a breakthrough brokered by US President Barack Obama during his visit to the Jewish state.

“This is a big success of Turkish foreign policy,” Arinc said.

He said that Turkey’s foreign minister “held talks with the other party and expressed the necessity to swiftly solve the issue.”

In remarks over the weekend, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country’s future diplomatic relationship with Israel — including the appointment of a new ambassador to Israel — would depend on the Jewish state.

March 27, 2013
‘Turkey rejected past reconciliation efforts’

Erdogan tells Turkish news outlet conditions for reconciliation with Israel included using word “apology,” end to Gaza embargo.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned down previous attempts at reconciliation by Israel due to a failure by the Israeli government to meet his pre-conditions, Turkish news outlet Hurriyet reported Tuesday.

Erdogan told Hurriyet that one condition was the use of the word “apology.” He said. “They wanted to express sorrow, but we said no. We wanted the word apology,” Hurriyet quoted him as saying.

Israeli officials reportedly agreed to financially compensate Mavi Marmara victims’ families in light of the 2010 flotilla incident, but Erdogan insisted that a reconciliation would also require an apology and an end to the Gaza embargo, according to Hurriyet.

Erdogan also told Hurriyet that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised to start work on easing the embargo on Gaza.

“We will monitor the situation to see if the promises are kept or not,” Hurriyet quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile, Erdogan said on Tuesday that he is planning to visit Gaza and the West Bank to see if Israel is holding up its end of the deal to lift the Gaza blockade, one of the conditions set by Ankara to normalize ties with Jerusalem, Turkish paper Today’s Zaman reported.

Erdogan, who announced over the weekend plans to visit the Strip next month, told ministers in a parliamentary meeting on Tuesday that he will travel to the Palestinian territories with Turkish relief organizations in order to work to improve the current humanitarian condition.

On Friday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with Erdogan for the first time since coming into power in 2009, and voiced regret for the loss of life in the Mavi Marmara incident, apologizing for any operational mistakes that led to the death of nine Turkish activists. Breaking a three-year deadlock, the two agreed to normalize relations.

However, National Security Council head Yaakov Amidror said on Sunday that Netanyahu’s apology did not obligate Israel to end the blockade of Gaza, and it could clamp down harder on the Palestinian enclave if it needed to because of security considerations.

Following the conversation, Erdogan said Israel had met his demands to apologize for killing nine Turks aboard the ship, pay compensation to those bereaved or hurt and lift the blockade by allowing in more consumer goods.

That fell well short, however, of an end to the blockade – which Erdogan had routinely insisted on during the almost three-year-old rift as a condition for rapprochement.

Erdogan, meanwhile, told a crowd of supporters on Sunday that normalization of ties would only take place if Israel implemented the conditions of the deal discussed in the conversation with Netanyahu. The only firm condition mentioned in the statement following that conversation was payment of compensation.

“If there is quiet, the processes easing the lives of Gazan residents will continue. And if there is Katyusha fire, then these moves will be slowed and even stopped and, if necessary, even reversed,” Amidror said on Army Radio.

“We did not agree to promise that under any condition we would continue to transfer all the things into Gaza and ease up on the residents of Gaza if there is shooting from there,” Amidror added. “We do not intend to give up on our right to respond to what happens in Gaza because of the agreement with the Turks.”

Meanwhile, on Monday signs were put up in Ankara to thank Erdogan for getting Netanyahu to apologize for the Gaza flotilla incident. The billboards in Turkish read: “Israel apologized to Turkey. Dear Prime Minister, We are grateful that you let our country experience this pride.”

Herb Keinon contributed to this report.

via ‘Turkey rejected past reconciliation efforts’ | JPost | Israel News.

March 27, 2013
Israel Apology Boosts Turkey Tourism Stocks to Two-Month High

By Taylan Bilgic

Turkish tourism companies rose on expectations that Israeli tourist arrivals to Turkey will rebound after an apology by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Israeli army’s killing of nine Turks three years ago.

The Istanbul Stock Exchange’s tourism index gained 1.5 percent to 5978.07 at 4:15 p.m. in Istanbul, heading for its highest level in almost two months. The Istanbul Stock Exchange National 100 Index gained 0.4 percent.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on March 22 apologized to Turkey for the deaths, which occured during a May 2010 raid by Israeli commandos on a Turkish aid ship headed for the Gaza Strip. The number of Israeli tourists visiting Turkey dropped to 83,740 in 2012 from 558,000 in 2008 as Turkey broke off diplomatic relations and tensions between the two countries increased after the raid, according to data on the Turkish statistics agency’s website.

“Today’s gains are related to developments regarding Israel, with investors expecting an increase in tourist arrivals,” Nalan Ozdemir, an analyst at Ekinciler Yatirim in Istanbul, said in a phone interview.

Izmir-based Altinyunus Cesme Turistik Tesisler AS (AYCES) gained as much as 14 percent, its biggest gain since February 2007. More than 372,000 shares changed hands, almost 11 times the stock’s three-month average daily volume. Marti Otel Isletmeleri AS (MARTI), an operator of resort hotels in Turkey’s southwest, rose 2.6 percent.

via Israel Apology Boosts Turkey Tourism Stocks to Two-Month High – Bloomberg.

March 27, 2013
Istanbul Symphony Orchestra plays to draw attention to Syria

ISTANBUL – Anatolia News Agency

Istanbul’s CRR hosted on March 25 a concert to benefit Syria. The Istanbul Symphony Orchestra played under the baton of Bosnian Emir Nuhanovic

Syrian violinist Ali Moraly made an appearance as a soloist. AA photo

The Istanbul Symphony Orchestra performed March 25 under the baton of famous Bosnian orchestra conductor Emir Nuhanovic. The concert at Istanbul’s Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall (CRR) was organized to draw attention to the human tragedy in Syria and hosted Syrian violinist Ali Moraly as a soloist.

Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik, who made a speech before the concert, said that while optimism was in the air all around the world in the 1990s, the people of Sarajevo faced a wild massacre. He said he had been a student at the time.

“We students were organized to find out what we could do for Sarajevo. Although Turkey mobilized its all options, we did not have today’s opportunities and all of us felt the pain and sorrow of our helplessness for Sarajevo. In the middle of the tragedy, the late Alija Izetbegovic called for the master conductor Nuhanovic and asked him to make their voice be heard all around the world. The modern world, which had nothing to say for Sarajevo, began to speak again.”

Tragedy before the whole world

Çelik said Syria was currently experiencing a tragedy before the whole world and the concert was held to draw attention to this drama. “There are 70,000 martyrs and 250,000 missing. There are millions of refugees outside the country, and there are millions of people who had to leave their place in Syria. Now, in order to make a call for all human beings, art will make its voice heard for Syria under the leadership of a great master. What should be asked here is how those who remain silent against the events in Syria could do it. We will give the most meaningful answer to this tonight in this venue,” he said.

The minister said the question of what art is would find the most meaningful answer that night as well.

“Rather than watching the tragedy in Bosnia in the 1990s, Turkey did its best. It is trying to do the same for Syria today. But there is a difference today, and everybody feels what this difference is. Today we are all around the world not only with our people but also with all organs of the state. We do not stand by those who slaughter and oppress. We are not following a policy of lack of conscience.”

Çelik said it was not an ordinary night but rather the 70,000 martyrs and hundreds of thousands of missing were together with them.

“We will be the tongue of millions of refugees tonight. This is art. The losses of Bosnia will meet the losses of Syria, and Istanbul will bring brotherhood to Aleppo, Damascus and Sarajevo once again.”

‘Mothers bury their own children in Syria’

At the opening of the concert, Nuhanovic addressed the audience, saying Europe and most of the world did nothing for the incidents in Sarajevo and only Turkey had made efforts against this tragedy at the United Nations.

He said that to draw attention to the events, they gave a concert with conductor Zubin Mehta in 1994 under hard circumstances upon the order of Izetbegovic. “The tear of a child is worth the wealth of the world. Mothers bury their own children now in Syria.”

Following the speeches Tomaso Albinoni’s Adagio in G-Minor, Maurice Jarre’s “The Message” and Beethoven’s 5th Symphony were performed at the concert.

March/27/2013

via MUSIC – Istanbul Symphony Orchestra plays to draw attention to Syria.

March 27, 2013
Israel to pay Turkey tens of millions over Gaza flotilla deaths, sources say

Israel to pay Turkey tens of millions over Gaza flotilla deaths, sources say

Israel will transfer the amount to a humanitarian fund set up by Turkish government to compensate for deaths of Turkish activists on Mavi Maramara in 2010; Turkish diplomat says U.S. pressuring Erdogan not to visit Gaza, West Bank.

By Zvi Bar’el

via Israel to pay Turkey tens of millions over Gaza flotilla deaths, sources say – Diplomacy & Defense – Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper.

March 27, 2013