Barak seeks to contain damage to ties with Turkey

Barak became the first Israeli official to visit Turkey since the diplomatic feud that erupted last Monday when Israel's deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, summoned Turkish Ambassador Oğuz Çelikkol to complain about a TV show. The ambassador, who was refused a handshake, was forced to sit on a low sofa while Ayalon explained to local TV stations that the humiliation was intentional. Outraged, Turkey threatened to recall the ambassador, forcing Ayalon to apologize. The quarrel was the latest in a series of disputes between the two allies.

Davutoğlu and Barak were joined by Turkey's Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu, Ambassador Çelikkol and the head of the Israeli Defense Ministry's political desk, Amos Gilad, during the meeting.

Officials described the meeting as an “expanded tête-à-tête” which took around two-and-a-half hours, one hour longer than planned. All joint dossiers between Israel and Turkey involving regional and bilateral affairs were discussed during the meeting, which was the first such senior-level meeting between the two sides for a considerably long period of time, which is why it lasted longer than planned, Turkish diplomatic sources told Today’s Zaman.

“We expect Israel to deal with disagreements between us and them within the framework of diplomatic traditions and in a rational way,” Davutoğlu told Barak during the meeting, in an apparent reference to the incident involving Çelikkol, Today’s Zaman learned. In response, Barak underlined the importance his country attaches to bilateral relations with Turkey, noting that he didn’t approve of Ayalon’s treatment of Çelikkol.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, accompanied by Turkish and Israeli diplomats, met at the Foreign Ministry on Sunday. Turkish Ambassador to Israel Oğuz Çelikkol, seen from the rear, also attended the talks.

Barak and his fellow Labor Party member, Minister for Industry, Trade and Labor Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who visited Turkey in November, have significantly warmer relations with Turkey than Ayalon and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman; Lieberman is known to be the architect of the diplomatic scandal carried out by Ayalon.

During the meeting with Barak, in “open-minded and frank remarks,” Davutoğlu reiterated Turkey’s views and expectations concerning its relations with Israel. “For Turkey-Israel relations to settle on a right axis, the Middle East peace process should be simultaneously revived on three legs; Israel-Syria, Israel-Palestine and Israel-Lebanon,” Davutoğlu said.

At the end of the meeting, the two sides agreed to remain in constant contact on different levels, the diplomatic sources said. Meanwhile, sources close to the talks at the Foreign Ministry told Today’s Zaman that the Israeli delegation took pains to show respect to Çelikkol, while Barak had his private photographer to take pictures of them together.

Turkey constantly reiterates that a return to normal in bilateral ties depends on concrete steps by Israel to end the months-long humanitarian tragedy in Gaza as well as displaying a sign of willingness to revive peace efforts in the Middle East. Last week, amid the escalation of the latest tension, Davutoğlu had said: “We want peace to be sovereign in our region; we want good relations to be sovereign. We also want good relations to exist between Turkey and Israel. We believe that good relations can be achieved only within a peace perspective. Our criticisms are criticisms which are directed within this framework. We hope that in the period ahead Israel embraces pro-peace policies and these pro-peace policies contribute to maintaining a permanent stability in our neighborhood. In such an environment, Turkey-Israel relations settle on a right axis.”

Ahead of his meeting with Davutoğlu, Barak, visited Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. Signing the official Anıtkabir memorial book at the Misak-ı Milli (National Pact) Tower, he praised Atatürk as “a war hero and a peace hero.”

Following his meeting at the Foreign Ministry, Barak met with his counterpart, Vecdi Gönül, though no meeting with either President Abdullah Gül or Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was planned. Barak was not scheduled to meet with Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ either.

Although there are ongoing military cooperation projects between Turkey and Israel, such as the purchase of Israeli-made Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that the military hopes to use to monitor the hideouts of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has bases in northern Iraq, the level of cooperation has decreased. Gönül and Barak were expected to discuss the $190 million deal for the Herons, which was signed several years ago but has been held up reportedly due to a malfunction in a camera system made for the drones by a Turkish subcontractor.