Citing schedule conflict, Gül says he won’t meet Peres in New York

Gül, who departed Turkey on Friday accompanied by several ministers, held a press conference on Sunday at the Türkevi, which hosts Turkey’s permanent representation to the UN and Turkey’s consulate general in New York.

“As a matter of fact, my program is not available anyhow,” Gül was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency when he was asked whether he would have a bilateral meeting with Peres while in New York. “I saw what you have mentioned in the press, there is an invitation extended to many people, including to him [Peres] and I, [to an event] at the Clinton Global Initiative. I won’t be going there,” Gül added.

Gül was apparently referring to reports suggesting that Peres, who will speak at a special session of the Clinton Global Initiative – a meeting devoted to the Middle East and to be held on the sidelines of the UN gathering. According to the program on the initiative’s website, Peres is scheduled to deliver a speech today.

“Our schedule does not permit it,” Gül briefly repeated when asked whether he chose not to attend to the activity in order avoid Peres.

Bilateral tension between Israel and Turkey peaked in the aftermath of Israel’s May 31 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that left nine activists dead. Ankara has recently made clear that relations must be normalized via a fulfillment of Turkey’s conditions on Israel before allowing any high-level visits between the two countries.

Following the May 31 incident, Israel has said the soldiers acted in self-defense after being attacked as they boarded the Mavi Marmara, one of the aid flotilla’s six vessels owned by a Turkish charity. Turkey, on the other hand, is demanding an apology from Israel and compensation for the families of the victims.

In New York, Gül reiterated Turkey’s conditions of apology and compensation, when asked whether an apology from Israel would be sufficient for Turkey for normalization of the relations.

According to international law, Israel has to both offer an apology and pay compensation, Gül said. Gül also made remarks on the recent status of bilateral relations between Ankara and Washington.

The two NATO allies cooperate closely in Iraq, where problems with forming the government still persist months after the March parliamentary elections, and in Afghanistan. But there are visible rifts on two other issues -- Iran’s nuclear program and the state of Turkish-Israeli relations.

The US expressed disappointment after Turkey voted against sanctions on Iran at the UN Security Council in June, a move that led many conservatives in Washington to question whether Turkey was still an ally.

Turkey’s harsh rhetoric against Israel after the May 31 incident further deepened concerns about Turkey in Washington. Last month, the State Department made it known to the public that it had held a closed-door session on Turkey.

Following the press conference, the Türkevi hosted a meeting of Gül with representatives of US-based Turkish diaspora associations.

“Relations between the US and Turkey are one of the most fundamental elements of our foreign policy and we attach high importance to this,” GÜl said.

“The best indicator, showing that the same kind of importance is attached [to this relationship] by the US, is the fact that Turkey is the country to which US President Barack Obama paid his first overseas trip soon after being elected, and the fact that he described our relations in the best way -- as a model partnership,” Gül said, referring to Obama’s visit which took place in early April, 2009.

Earlier, in the press conference, Gül, who is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while in New York, was asked whether he expected any criticism to be directed at Turkey concerning its stance on Iran’s nuclear program during the UN meetings.

“Everybody is actually appreciatesTurkey’s role and what it has done. Some are able to say it openly and some are not. The US also appreciates Turkey’s stance, the way it handled the Iran file, our final goals, -- they know it very well. We are talking about these issues briefly and to the point,” he said, ruling out any criticism against Turkey on the issue.