Çelikkol’s treatment by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon was an unprecedented example of diplomatic rudeness. Ayalon -- who summoned Çelikkol to the Knesset on Monday afternoon to express outrage over an episode of the popular Turkish television series, “Valley of the Wolves: Ambush,” which depicted Israeli intelligence service Mossad agents spying inside Turkey and kidnapping Turkish babies -- told cameramen to film him and his aide sitting on tall chairs and Çelikkol on a lower chair with the Israeli flag in the middle, an incident which sparked a diplomatic war between Turkey and Israel.Sabah’s Nazlı Ilıcak finds the Israeli treatment of Çelikkol not only offensive, but also childish. She says the actions of the Israeli deputy foreign minister seemingly resulted from disturbance about the TV series “Valley of the Wolves” but that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is actually behind this move. “The identity of this person is very important. His party is the coalition partner of the Labor Party; he is a member of the hard-line rightist Yisrael Beiteinu and is known for his racist tendencies. He is in conflict with leftist Defense Minister Ehud Barak. It seems that he is not happy about the visit Barak will pay to Turkey on Jan. 17. So, it is very possible that the lower chair [incident] was his design,” explains Ilıcak.
“That photo is a disaster, a scandal. It is the most concrete indication of Israel’s ‘superior race’ mentality,” says Bugün’s Ahmet Taşgetiren, who is very disappointed about the Israeli treatment of Çelikkol. He suggests that both the United States and the Israeli public should think about which diplomatic psychiatric clinic the craziness which caused the Israelis to insult Turkey at the level of its ambassador should be treated. “Turkey tells Israel something very simple. Avoid dirtying your hands with the blood of innocent people. Israel’s reckless attitudes will damage it. The Middle East is no longer a region that can bear either [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu or Lieberman, who has become a more violent symbol of racism. And the United States’ standing behind this racism will cause harm only to the United States itself,” warns Taşgetiren. Citing an Israeli author, Uri Avnery, who said the attitude toward the Turkish ambassador was embarrassing, foolish and childish, Taşgetiren says we can console ourselves because there are people with common sense in Israel who do not approve of such behavior.
Milliyet’s Aslı Aydıntaşbaş finds the incident in Tel Aviv comedic and thinks Turkey’s response was a reasonable one as it expects an apology from Israel. She says what happened in Tel Aviv has dealt severe harm to Barak’s upcoming visit to Turkey, which aimed to repair bilateral relations. “While Israeli hawks were trying to ‘stand firm’ against Turkey, they became completely aggressive and I think they permanently damaged bilateral relations,” says Aydıntaşbaş.
