Turkey cannot side with injustice and persecution, says Erdoğan

“Some may have an issue, enmity or grudge concerning Turkey. But we don't have any grudge, enmity or different expectations concerning any other country. We want peace in our country and in our region. We want peace and welfare in the world. We build all of our policies and goals on this,” Erdoğan said in a speech delivered in the central Anatolian city of Kırşehir on Saturday.

“Turkey is and will be against whoever is unjust. Turkey has never, in its history, been on the side of persecutors, it has always defended the oppressed,” Erdoğan said without directly naming Israel. “While some children are opening their eyes to welfare, peace, security, a quality education and a bright future, some of them are opening their eyes to tears, sorrow, a hopeless future and phosphorus bombs. This is not a sustainable situation for our world,” he also said, in an apparent reference to the Israeli military's deadly offensive in Gaza last December, leaving more than 1,300 people dead.

Israel has extensive defense ties with Turkey, a NATO member and one of the few Muslim nations to have built an alliance with the Jewish state. Yet tension prevails in the ties between Israel and Turkey, particularly since Ankara's harsh criticism of Israel's three-week offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December and January.

Earlier this month, Israel voiced its disappointment through the media over Turkey's decision to transform a joint international military exercise, which would have also included Israel, into a national military exercise.

An exchange of remarks between Israeli and Turkish officials concerning Israel's exclusion from the “Anatolian Eagle” exercises was last week followed by Israeli protests over a Turkish television series about Palestinians, escalating the tension between the two countries. Israel on Thursday summoned a Turkish diplomat to protest the “state-sponsored incitement” by state-owned TRT television's “Ayrılık” (Separation) series, in which actors playing Israeli soldiers and Palestinians fight in street battles in Jerusalem.

‘Turkey can’t be honest broker in Syria talks’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want Ankara serving as mediator in any future diplomatic negotiations with Syria, leading Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Sunday.

“The tensions [between Israel and Turkey] became a major issue during a meeting between Netanyahu and his visiting Spanish counterpart, Jose Luis Zapatero. During the meeting, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told Netanyahu that the Turks ‘will fall in line' if they serve as mediator between Israel and Syria. Netanyahu said he objects to Turkey resuming its role as mediator and does not see how the country can become ‘an honest broker' between the two sides,” Haaretz reported.

Meanwhile, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) sent a letter to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Friday, expressing its “profound concern” over the “Ayrılık” series, calling it “part of a disturbing pattern of encouraging anti-Jewish sentiment in Turkey.”

“We take note of your comments that the network is autonomous in its programming choices and that Turkey does not practice censorship. Yet the question remains whether, in the view of your government, it is appropriate for an organ of the state to broadcast such inflammatory and malicious content,” the letter, signed by Richard J. Sideman and David A. Harris, said.

“When we recently met, Excellency, you spoke of Turkey's pride in its history of religious tolerance and in the accomplishments of its Jewish community. We also celebrate this heritage, which is central to perceptions of Turkey in the United States. We fear, however, that it is being jeopardized by the encouragement of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment -- a distressing pattern in which this program is simply the latest incident. Thank you for your consideration of this important matter.”