Clinton urges Turkey to continue dialogue with Israel

“The secretary encouraged the foreign minister to continue important dialogue with Israel because that relationship remains a vitally important one to the future of the region,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Philip J. Crowley told reporters at a daily press briefing later on Monday.

A US official speaking on condition of anonymity said Clinton also asked Davutoğlu to leave Iran’s nuclear dispute to international mediators -- comprising the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany -- and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and that Davutoğlu agreed. This version of the 45-minute conversation, however, was disputed, with Turkish officials declining to comment on the anonymous remarks and telling Today’s Zaman that the official statement should be taken into consideration instead.

In the official statement, Crowley did not make any comment on the content of the discussion on Iran, saying only that Clinton and Davutoğlu “reviewed a wide range of subjects, including the situation with respect to Iran.”

Turkey, along with Brazil, mediated a nuclear swap deal with Iran in May but failed to prevent the US from successfully pushing for a new round of sanctions on the Islamic Republic at the UN Security Council. In a move that disappointed Washington, Turkey voted against the sanctions. Russia and France, both members of the UN Security Council and the Vienna Group of negotiators, have called for talks on the basis of the nuclear swap deal but it is not clear whether and how Turkey would be involved.

Further complicating the issue, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying that the Vienna Group -- comprising the US, France, Russia and the IAEA -- has accepted Tehran’s proposal that Turkey and Brazil participate in the talks on Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran believes that Turkey and Brazil should participate in its talks with the Vienna Group within the framework of the swap deal brokered by Brazil and Turkey on May 17, and “the Vienna Group has also accepted their presence,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki told reporters on Sunday. But Turkish officials told Today’s Zaman that they have received no official information from either the Iranian side or the Vienna Group concerning those news reports.

Israel rift, support on PKK

Tension in Turkish-US ties deepened further following a deadly Israeli raid on an aid ship trying to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip on May 31. Turkey has demanded an official apology and an international investigation into the raid, which killed eight Turks and one American aboard the Mavi Marmara ship, but Israel rejects both demands.

An Israeli military inquiry found no wrongdoing or negligence in the navy’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, but said intelligence and operational mistakes led to the deaths of the nine activists. “The inquiry found that on the one hand there were no wrongdoings and no negligence in any fundamental areas during a complicated and complex operation,” Giora Eiland, a retired Israeli general who headed the military inquiry, said on Monday. “But on the other hand there were mistakes that were made in decisions, including some taken at relatively high levels, which meant that the result was not as had been initially anticipated.”

The US has welcomed the Israeli decision to investigate the raid but has made no call for an international inquiry even though the victims include one US national.

Davutoğlu and Clinton appeared to have found common ground on one issue though: cooperation against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). According to Crowley, Clinton reiterated the United States’ commitment to help with the PKK, which is designated in the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. “The PKK remains a common enemy of Turkey, the United States and Iraq and is a threat to the stability of the region. And we continue to support efforts by Turkey and Iraq to deal with the problem of the PKK,” Crowley said.

Clinton also conveyed her impressions of her latest tour to the Caucasus and Davutoğlu told her about his impressions from his visits to countries in the Balkans, Turkish sources said.