Tag: Mavi Marmara

Istanbul – Turkey was still expecting a formal apology and compensation from Israel over the Gaza flotilla incident, the country’s Foreign Ministry said Friday.

The statement came even after Israeli and Turkish diplomats met in Geneva this week in a bid to repair the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

‘Israel has behaved unjustly towards Turkey regarding the aid ship Mavi Marmara and we are still expecting compensation and an apology,’ Turkey’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Selcuk Unal said, according to the semi-official Anatolia Agency.

His statement echoed similar recent comments by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul.

The diplomatic crisis was sparked by Israel’s assault on a flotilla headed to Gaza in May, during which Israeli commandos shot dead nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists onboard the Turkish Mavi Marmara.

In the wake of the incident, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel and demanded an official apology and compensation. Israel refused to apologise, saying it had acted in self-defence.

After months of strained relations between the formerly close allies, Yosef Ciechanover, Israel’s representative to the United Nations commission investigating the flotilla deaths, and Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu held meetings in Geneva on Sunday and Monday to try to solve the crisis – the first such bilateral encounter since July.

The Geneva meetings came about after Turkey sent two planes to Israel to help fight a recent forest fire, which killed 42 Israelis and burnt 50 square kilometres of land.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally thanked Erdogan for the assistance and said he hoped it would be the beginning of a new page in relations.

Unconfirmed reports in the Turkish and Israeli press this week have shed some light on the recent diplomatic meetings, but official statements have been lacking.

Turkish media have speculated that Israel might pay 100,000 dollars in damages to each of the families of the men who were killed on the Mavi Marmara. However, in his remarks on Friday, Unal said, ‘We have not voiced any compensation amount.’

The question of an apology is also undecided and sensitive, as it appears that Israel would prefer a word less strong than ‘apology,’ such as ‘regret.’

The Turkish Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson declined to comment on the nature of any ongoing or upcoming talks between the two countries.

via Turkey still wants apology and compensation from Israel – Monsters and Critics.

Israel has proposed paying compensation to relatives of Turkish activists it killed in exchange for Ankara to give up lawsuits against the Israeli navy.

Israel has proposed paying compensation to relatives of Turkish activists it killed during a raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship, in exchange for Ankara to give up lawsuits against the Israeli navy, officials said on Thursday.

“We made a compensation offer, and asked the Turks to do what needs to be done to address our legal concerns. We also want to see them return their ambassador and allow us to appoint a new ambassador in Ankara,” an Israeli official told Reuters news agency.

“For now, however, there are still big obstacles.”

Turkey and Israel is reportedly near agreement on wording of memo aimed at ending crisis; Erdogan demands Israel say it ‘apologizes,’ while Israel prefers to use the word ‘regrets’.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed with senior advisers on Wednesday the content of a memo aimed at ending the crisis with Israel.

Most of the remaining points of contention concern the exact phrasing of Israel’s apologies related to its raid on the flotilla. Erdogan demands that Israel say it “apologizes,” while Israel prefers to use the word “regrets.”

On Wednesday, Netanyahu adviser Ron Dermer said Israel and Turkey were discussing “the phrasing of a compromise that both sides can live with … (and) that will get our relations with Turkey back on track and remove the whole affair from the international agenda”.

During the consultations held in Erdogan’s office, the permanent undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Feridun Sinirlioglu, updated the prime minister on the talks he’d held with Israeli UN envoy Yosef Ciechanover in Geneva earlier this week.

“Denial of legal responsibility”

Israel is refusing to use the word “apology.” Israel has, however, agreed to express sorrow and regret over the killing of the Turkish activists on board.

According to Turkish and Israeli media, Israel wants the expression of sorrow and regret to be “humanitarian” and addressed toward the victims, rather than an official apology to the Turkish government to avoid legal cases. Erdogan, for his part, is demanding that Israel apologize “to the Turkish republic.”

Israel also sees the compensation a “humanitarian” gesture, rather than an Israeli admission of legal responsibility for the killings.

The draft offers Turkey some $100,000 each to families of the activists shot dead by Israeli marines during the raid.

The rapprochement talks followed Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s dispatch of planes to help Israel battle a forest fire that raged out of control last week.

Erdogan on Tuesday renewed Turkey’s terms. He repeated his demand that Israel-besieged Gaza’s borders be opened.

“If there are those who want to start a new period, I repeat: They must accept their guilt, apologise and pay compensation. I say too that the embargoes, which have been eased but not enough, should be lifted,” he told AK lawmakers.

Families of Turkish humanitarian aid workers dismissed any Israeli apology as formality and demanded the soldiers be tried for the killings on the Gaza aid ship.

Agencies

The Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara, on which nine activists were killed on the May 31 Flotilla Massacre, is returning to Istanbul on the anniversary of ‘Operation Cast Lead’. In a ceremony organised by the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), politicians, activists and survivors will gather to mourn the losses on the flotilla and in Gaza, while reiterating their commitment to ending Israel’s illegal policies.

Having been held in Israel along with all ships that formed the Freedom Flotilla, the Marmara has now been repaired and is ready to form part of a new flotilla that will sail to Gaza on May 31, 2011. The IHH have published a list of demands addressed to the Israeli authorities in acknowledgement of what the UN Human Rights Council have called “Incredible violence” and an “unacceptable level of brutality” against the ship’s passengers. The attack drew near unanimous condemnation from world leaders, although soldiers responsible for killings received commendations for bravery from the Israeli military.

The first demand is for a process of lifting the illegal siege on Gaza to have begun by the time the Marmara and accompanying ships to arrive there next May.

The IHH are also calling for Israel to accept, apologise and account for crimes of murder, torture, theft and suppression, as well as paying substantial compensation to the victims. Finally, they are seeking trials in Turkey to identify and issue arrest warrants to those responsible.

The ceremony on December 26 in Istanbul marks the first day of ‘Operation Cast Lead’, Israel’s brutal assault on the population of the Gaza strip, which left 1,500 dead, including over 1,000 civilians and 500 children.

The IHH expect many thousands to attend. “With this opportunity, the brutal attacks and killings of Israel on the Flotilla as well as Gaza will be once again highlighted and the world will be called out to end the attacks and the siege imposed on Gaza”, said IHH board member Huseyin Oruc.

via Palestine Monitor – Mavi Marmara Returns to (…).

JERUSALEM (Hurriyet Daily News)–Israel has agreed in principle to offer an apology and pay compensation to Turkey for the normalization of bilateral relations that have severely deteriorated since the killing of Turkish citizens in an Israeli raid on an aid flotilla in May, a leading Israeli daily reported on Tuesday.

“Israel agreed in principle to apologize and pay compensation, and the Turks agreed that if these two aspects are adhered to they would ‘normalize’ relations with Israel and return their ambassador to Tel Aviv. Nonetheless, both the apology and compensation remain problematic from legal and political perspectives,” the English-language Israeli daily newspaper, Haaretz reported, referring to the content of talks held between senior Turkish and Israeli diplomats on Sunday and Monday in Geneva.

Officials at the Turkish Foreign Ministry refused on Tuesday to comment on the content of talks held between Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu, undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, and Yosef Ciechanover, the Israeli representative on the UN committee investigating the Gaza flotilla incident. The same officials also refused to make any comment on Haaretz’s report, without denying or confirming the report.

The Geneva talks were initiated after Turkey last week, on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s orders, sent fire-fighting aircraft to assist in the battle against a devastating fire in Israel.

Erdogan reiterated on Tuesday that there can be no “new era” in ties with Israel until it apologizes and offers compensation for its deadly raid, while stating that Israel must also end its blockade of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week phoned Erdogan to express his gratitude for Turkey’s assistance. “Let’s say we are very appreciative of the fact that the Turkish government sent two planes at a time when we needed them. We greatly appreciate that,” Netanyahu said at a press conference Monday evening as he refused to answer questions on the issue of apology and compensation. “I think that is very important, and I expressed that appreciation, as well as my hope that this will enable us to move forward in an improvement of ties. Beyond that, I have nothing to say.”

Haaretz reported that Sinirlioglu and Ciechanover have agreed to present their ideas to the prime ministers to receive further instructions and noted that more discussions are due between legal experts on both sides.

“The two sides are trying to find a formula that would let Erdogan claim that the statement was an apology, but for Netanyahu to argue that it was not — only an expression of appreciation for Turkey’s assistance in putting out the fires in the Carmel region,” it said.

via Israel Agrees to Offer Turkey Apology, Compensation, Says Haaretz | Asbarez Armenian News.

By HERB KEINON

12/07/2010 22:46

Officials discuss ways to end political crisis between Ankara and Jerusalem; sources close to Lieberman: “Turks need to apologize to us.”

In an effort to put an end to the crisis in Israeli-Turkish ties caused by the Mavi Marmara incident last may, Israel is looking for wording of a formula that will make clear that Israel “did not act in malice” when it overtook the boat as it was trying to break the blockade, an Israeli official said Tuesday night.

The official’s comments came amid meetings held in Geneva over the last few days between top Israeli and Turkish officials following the Turkish gesture last week of sending two planes to Israel to help fight the fire on Mt. Carmel.

Even as Israeli representative Yosef Ciechanover and Feridun Sinirlioglu were conducting talks in Geneva to come up with a formula, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan continued to insist on an Israeli apology and an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

According to AFP, Erdogan said in a weekly speech in parliament, “If anyone wants to turn a new page, they must first admit their crime… apologize and pay compensation.” “And we are also saying that the embargoes — which have been relaxed but that’s not enough — must be lifted,” he said.

“If we see these steps being taken, then we will evaluate the situation… We are not acting with feelings of grudge and hatred,” he said.

Sources close to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, meanwhile, said that an apology to Turkey would be tantamount to “surrender to terrorism.” “Israel needs to ask for a Turkish apology, and for it to pay compensation for the aid it gave those supporting terrorists and the IHH, which countries such as Germany have called a terrorist organization.

Turkish officials reportedly said that Israel had agreed to pay compensation to the families of the nine Turkish citizens killed in the incident as well as damages to those injured, and that what was now being discussed was the wording of the Israeli apology.

Netanyahu, at a press conference Monday, ignored a question regarding whether he would apologize, saying instead that he had expressed his appreciation to the Turks for their assistance with fighting the fire, and hoped that the ties between the two countries would improve.

Netanyahu is intent on ensuring that IDF soldiers are not in any way open to legal proceedings being opened against them here or abroad, one Israeli official said.

Turkey has made an apology and compensation a pre-condition to returning its envoy to Tel Aviv and to returning ties between the two countries to “normal.” In a related development, the security cabinet is expected on Wednesday to discuss a further easing of restrictions on Gaza, and allowing more exports out of the region to improve the economic situation there. Government officials said that allowing more exports means that the goods will go through Ashdod port, a serious security problem since Israel cannot, obviously, depend on Hamas officials inside Gaza to provide a security check on the outgoing cargo.

Senior officials from Turkey and Israel have been meeting in Geneva to try to settle the diplomatic dispute caused by the killing of Turkish citizens in an Israeli raid on an aid flotilla in May.

The talks follow Turkey’s decision last week to send two aircraft to help its long-time ally fight a forest fire.

Nine people were killed on the Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara, as it tried to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

Turkey has so far demanded that Israel apologise and offer compensation.

Israel has admitted mistakes were made in intelligence-gathering and planning, but insisted its commandos used lethal force on boarding the Mavi Marmara because pro-Palestinian activists had attacked them.

The activists have said the troops opened fire as soon as they boarded the vessel, which was in international waters at the time.

A blockade has been imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel and Egypt since the Islamist militant group, Hamas, seized control in 2007.

Firefighting help

The BBC’s Jonathan Head in Istanbul says that, six months after the raid on the Mavi Marmara, the meeting in Geneva was the first real effort to end the diplomatic rift between the two countries.

Our nine brothers martyred on the Mavi Marmara must be accounted for. First an apology must be made and compensation must be paid”

The two senior officials are reported to have explored a compromise formula which bridges Turkey’s demand for an apology and compensation, and Israel’s insistence that its forces were justified in using force when they boarded the flotilla, our correspondent says.

The diplomatic ice was broken by an agreement to send two Turkish firefighting aircraft to help fight the huge wildfire burning north of Haifa.

Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu telephoned his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to thank him – the first contact between the two since May.

However, Mr Erdogan later insisted the firefighting assistance was solely a humanitarian gesture.

“No-one can expect us to be silent, to abandon justice until the blood spilled in the Mediterranean is cleaned. Now some are coming out and saying: ‘Let’s begin a new phase.’ Before that, our demands must be met.

“Our nine brothers martyred on the Mavi Marmara must be accounted for. First an apology must be made and compensation must be paid.”

The United States has been pressing both countries to resolve their differences, but without any success until now.

Our correspondent says it could still take many more meetings to close the gap between their positions – even then, Turkish officials warn, the two countries will not be able to return to the levels of military and intelligence co-operation they had a decade ago.

Israel believes this is due to anti-Israeli prejudices within the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey; Turkey says it is Israel’s policies in Gaza, and Turkey’s ambitions in the wider Middle East, that make the restoration of their former partnership impossible, he adds.

via BBC News – Israel and Turkey hold talks to heal rift over flotilla.