Category: Middle East & Africa

Dozens of Israelis travel to Turkey after reconciliation

Israelis take advantage of Passover holiday, apology to Turkey to vacation in resort city. ‘I don’t feel like a traitor,’ traveler says

Danny Sadeh

Published: 03.27.13, 15:15 / Israel Travel

Dozens of Jewish Israelis were expected to board charter flights this week en route to a vacation in the resort city of Antalya, Turkey, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

Wednesday’s charter flight was ordered after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkey over the death of nine of its citizens during the IDF raid on a Gaza-bound ship in May 2010. Both of Thursday’s flights were ordered in advance for Arab Christians looking to spend their Easter vacation in Turkey’s resorts.

Law students Danny and Hadar from Haifa decided at the last minute to travel to Antalya. “We wanted to go on vacation during Passover, but we did not have a specific destination in mind,” Danny told Yedioth Ahronoth. “Hadar’s parents suggested we travel to Antalya. They had a great time there.

“There is nothing to fear. Some websites are calling (Israelis) who are travelling to Turkey ‘traitors,’ but I don’t feel like one,” he added.

According to figures provided by travel agencies, 50% of the passengers aboard Wednesday morning’s flight to Antalya were Arab Israelis who are taking advantage of the Easter vacation to travel to Turkey, while the rest are Israelis who rushed to book their vacations following the reconciliation between Ankara and Jerusalem.

A family of four pays an average of $2,000 for a four-day vacation at a five-star “all inclusive” resort in Antalya.

Ami Cohen, general manager of tour operator “Kavei Hofsha,” said that at this point Jewish Israelis are not snatching up plane tickets to Antalya, “but the real test will come after Pesach.”

Eyal Kashdan, CEO of the Flying Carpet travel agency, which organized Wednesday’s charter flight to Antalya, said, “We put the flight in the system Saturday night, and we received numerous phone calls on Sunday from people asking about prices. They also wanted to know whether it was safe to travel to Antalya and if the resorts really want to host Israelis. Dozens of people booked four and five-day vacations.”

via Dozens of Israelis travel to Turkey after reconciliation – Israel Travel, Ynetnews.

March 28, 2013
Turkey is ready to set up an industrial zone in Cameroon

Turkey-Cameroon Trade and Investment Forum held in Ankara, President Biya said Turkey had the capacity to meet the needs of Cameroon

Turkey’s Minister of Economy Zafer Caglayan has said on Wednesday, Turkey was ready to establish a Turkish organized industrial zone in Cameroon.

Caglayan spoke at the Turkey-Cameroon Trade and Investment Forum and said, 53 years old diplomatic relations between Turkey and Cameroon would continue by developing.

Turkish minister underlined that they pay high attention to develop relations with Cameroon in politics, diplomatics, economics and trade and said, “The beginning of flights and the opening of our embassy have a big importance. Turkish Airlines (THY) used to fly only to North Africa and now it flies to 34 different destinations. And in Cameroon THY flies to two destinations. This makes clear the importance of links between Turkey and Cameroon. We care about Cameroon because we care about Africa. In Turkey-Africa relations, we do not only look for financial results.”

Caglayan said, Turkey was playing an important role on the development of Africa continent and stated, “Total investments of Turkish business world is something between 20-25 billion USD. 25 Percent of these are being placed in Africa and this shows the interest of Turkish business community in Africa.”

Caglayan said, with legal infrastructure, Turkish business community would contribute into the future of Cameroon and noted, “We would like to say that we are ready to set up a Turkish organized industrial zone.”

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya invited Turkish businessmen to invest in his country.

“Turkey has the capacity to meet our needs, and we could work together in infrastructure, agriculture and mining areas, said Biya who spoke at the opening of Turkey-Cameroon Trade & Investment Forum.

Biya said that Cameroon was a gate to Central African market, and called on Turkish businessmen to invest in Cameroon. Biya expressed pleasure that Turkey set trade volume target between the two countries as 500 million USD.

via Turkey is ready to set up an industrial zone in Cameroon | Economy | World Bulletin.

March 28, 2013
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