Diplomacy a la Lieberman: Insult to envoy shaking ties

Turkish-Israeli relations have been strained since Israel's deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip, which left about 1,400 Palestinians dead, including many civilians, and brought heavy international criticism upon Israel, including accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a United Nations investigation. Since the offensive, Turkish-Israeli bilateral relations have seen exchanges of harsh remarks between Israeli and Turkish officials and crisis incidents despite efforts to tone town the crisis atmosphere.

Nonetheless, Monday and Tuesday's diplomatic kerfuffle between the two sides was an exception, since the way Çelikkol was treated by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon introduced an unprecedented example of diplomatic rudeness. Chronologically, the incident started when Ayalon 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.

At the beginning of the meeting, Ayalon was seen telling the cameramen to film him and his aide sitting on tall chairs, and Çelikkol on a lower chair, with the Israeli flag in the middle.

The ambassador was also filmed waiting in a corridor for the meeting to begin, and when it did, he was offered nothing to drink or eat.

In Ankara, during the same hours on Monday afternoon, at a joint press conference with visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lashed out at Israel for violating Lebanon’s airspace and using disproportionate force against Palestinians in Gaza.

1) A scene from the Turkish television series “Valley of the Wolves: Ambush,” which was protested by Israel for its portrayal of Israelis. 2) Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon (L) is seen sitting on a chair taller than that of Turkish Ambassador Oğuz Çelikkol during their meeting on Monday. Ayalon later admitted that he and Foreign Minister Avidgor Lieberman had planned the details of the encounter.

Israel’s response came shortly afterwards, with officials slamming Erdoğan’s “unbridled attack” and accusing him of seeking to harm ties. “Israel reserves the right to protect its citizens against rocket attacks and terrorism by Hamas and Hizbullah. Turkey is the last country that should preach morality to Israel and to the Israel Defense Forces,” a statement by Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yossi Levy said.

At the end of the tense Knesset meeting, pictures taken during the meeting between Ayalon and Çelikkol -- ostensibly showing the latter purposefully embarrassed -- marked the end of the longest two days between Israel and Turkey.

Israel’s Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday morning and ordered to explain both the way Çelikkol was treated and Yossi Levy’s statement, which explicitly blamed Turkey for being “immoral.”

Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu, who was formerly Turkey’s ambassador to Israel, told Ambassador Levy that the treatment of Çelikkol was an “unacceptable impudence,” and that “everybody should know their place.”

Turkish diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Today’s Zaman that the ministry is considering recalling Çelikkol to Ankara for consultations.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry separately released a written statement in response to the statement by Yossi Levy, firmly denying accusations of spreading anti-Semitist.

Political agenda and 35-year-long diplomatic career

Ayalon on Tuesday refused to apologize for his manner toward Çelikkol, suggesting that he “didn’t intend to humiliate him, merely to convey a message.” After he summoned Çelikkol, in a break from the diplomatic norm, Ayalon invited the press for a photo-op, during which he was seen telling the cameramen to film him and his aide sitting on tall chairs, and the Turkish envoy on a lower chair, with the Israeli flag in the middle, Israeli reports said. The ambassador was also filmed waiting in a corridor for the meeting to begin. When it did, he was offered nothing to drink or eat.

During the photo-op at the start of the meeting, Ayalon reportedly told the photographers in Hebrew: “Pay attention that he is sitting in a lower chair and we are in the higher ones, that there is only an Israeli flag on the table and that we are not smiling.” Çelikkol’s associates told Israeli Army Radio on Tuesday that the meeting with Ayalon was the most humiliating event he had experienced in 35 years as a diplomat.

The associates said Çelikkol had no idea what the topic of conversation was to be when he was first seated. When the cameras left the room, the sources said, the meeting was normal and professional. “Had the ambassador understood Ayalon’s intentions, which were only expressed in Hebrew, he would have responded in kind,” the sources told Israeli Army Radio.

While Israeli Army Radio quoted officials in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning calling Ayalon’s conduct “harmful to the strategic interests” with Ankara, a former Israeli ambassador to Turkey, Alon Liel, told the station that “a new sort of diplomacy” had been invented, and that Lieberman had “made up a new way of reprimanding.”

“This time, they made him sit on a low chair, next time maybe they’ll make him crawl, and who knows, maybe the time after that they’ll beat him up at the entrance,” he said.

Ayalon himself openly admitted that he and Lieberman had planned the details of the encounter, but told the radio station that such behavior was “standard diplomatic conduct,” offering no apology.

“I won’t apologize. It’s the Turks who should -- for what Erdoğan said and for the television series,” Ayalon said. “We are merely setting boundaries.”

Israeli Foreign Ministry sources, meanwhile, said Lieberman was trying to stop Defense Minister Ehud Barak from visiting to Turkey next week, in order to maintain the recent tensions between the two countries. The same sources said that Lieberman’s efforts were aimed at preventing Turkey from resuming its role as mediator in Israel’s peace talks with Syria

“We get the sense that Lieberman wants to heat things up before Barak’s visit,” a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry source was quoted as saying. “All of the recent activities were part of Lieberman’s political agenda.”

Unfairness against history

Anti-Semitism charges by Israel led to serious anger in Ankara, who says that its foreign policy favors dialogue, engagement and peaceful methods instead of disproportionate use of force and isolationist policies.

“Throughout history, Turks have extended their hands to Jews whenever they fell on hard times. Turks’ and Jews’ long history of living together is the history of mutual respect and tolerance. Hence, we reject the claim that ‘Turkey is the last country that should preach morality to Israel’ as a claim which does not comply with the memory of the Jewish people. This expression, which distorts facts, is unfair to history,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We believe that expressions within the Israeli Foreign Ministry statement directed toward Turkey are remarks delivered with domestic political contemplations and have surpassed their goal; we harshly condemn these expressions.”

Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission Chair Murat Mercan and ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman Kürşad Tüzmen, as well as main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Onur Öymen, were those who criticized Ayalon’s treatment of Çelikkol. Mercan said such approaches deepened Israel’s isolation in the region, while Tüzmen expressed hope for the correction of such a mistake through mutual visits. Öymen, meanwhile, said calling the incident “a diplomatic scandal” would not be a sufficient description, calling on the government for retaliatory action.