Turkey will suspend defense ties with its former ally Israel after Tel Aviv refused to apologize for the raid on the flotilla ship of activists headed to Gaza last May, the country’s prime minister has warned.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters in Ankara today that Israel was behaving like a “spoiled child” and warned that relations between the two countries could deteriorate further.
The announcement follows the dismissal of Israeli Ambassador Gaby Levy last Friday, Sept. 2 after the publication of a United Nations report into the flotilla raid failed to bring about an apology from Tel Aviv.
The U.N. report criticized Israel’s use of “excessive” force but acknowledged the country’s legal right to maintain the naval blockade of Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday refused to apologize for the raid in May last year.
“We need not apologize for acting to defend our civilians, our children, and our communities,” he told his Cabinet and journalists. However, he “expressed regret” over the death of eight Turkish citizens and one American of Turkish descent, and said he hoped relations would improve again.
“Israel never wanted ties with Turkey to deteriorate, and Israel does not now seek a deterioration of ties,” he said.
Turkey had been, up until last year, the largest Muslim-majority nation to have close relations with Israel, and the two countries regularly conducted military training exercises together. However, those ties are now at an end, Erdogan said on Tuesday.
“We are totally suspending our trade, military, [and] defense industry relations,” he told reporters.
His office later clarified that a suspension in commercial relations would be restricted to the defense industry, AFP reported.
Erdogan also threatened to inflame relations further by suggesting that he may also personally visit Gaza, traveling through the Egyptian border.
On Saturday, Turkey announced that it would apply for an investigation in the International Court of Justice on the legality of Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza.
