Lieberman blocks path to reconciliation with Turkey

The latest political row sparked by blunt remarks by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman seems to have proved Ankara's argument right that while it has the will for for normalization with Israel, the same is not valid for Israel.

Lieberman, of the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party -- the largest coalition partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist Likud -- on Sunday dismissed as “chutzpah” a Turkish offer to restore ties if Israel apologizes for the deadly raid, saying it was up to Ankara to make amends. “I think the matter of an apology borders on chutzpah or beyond,” Lieberman told Israeli diplomats in a speech given to international media. “If anything, we are waiting for an apology from the Turkish government, and not the other way around.”

He also denounced Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu's remarks on Saturday as “lies.” In those remarks, Davutoğlu noted Turkey's quick dispatch of planes to help Israel battle a forest fire this month, and suggested that, had the situation been reversed, it would have taken "days" for the Israelis to make a similar decision.

Netanyahu quickly disavowed the remarks, which included a panning of US-mediated peace efforts with the Palestinians, saying Lieberman was speaking only for himself. “The foreign minister's remarks reflect his own preparations and positions,” Netanyahu's office said in a statement. “The Israeli government's position is exclusively that voiced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and manifested by cabinet resolutions.”

Envoys of the two countries held rapprochement talks in Geneva this month. Israeli officials say they broached a deal that would entail them expressing “regret” for the violence and paying damages to those bereaved or hurt, in return for a Turkish commitment to indemnify navy personnel against lawsuits, while Turkish officials say Turkey never negotiated a word other than the word “apology.”

According to İlter Turan, a professor of international relations from İstanbul Bilgi University, the recent row in Israel clearly displayed that the coalition government is not able to draw up a common policy in regards to its relations with Turkey. “Netanyahu's statement distancing himself from Lieberman can only be interpreted as an effort at damage-control to prevent further damage to ties by Lieberman,” Turan told Today's Zaman. “For the time being, as long as such a coalition exists in Israel, normalizing relations does not seem to be an easy job.”

Alon Liel, a former undersecretary of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and also a former top diplomat in Ankara, echoed what Turan said. “After the Carmel fire there was an attempt to repair relations, but with Lieberman's comments he made today, I think it will fail again,” Liel told a group of journalists in Tel Aviv. “After Lieberman's remarks, it will be hard, but we cannot leave Turkey-Israel relations to a right-wing party leader,” he, added.

Davutoğlu on Saturday noted Turkey's quick dispatch of planes to help Israel battle a forest fire this month, and suggested that, had the situation been reversed, it would have taken “days” for the Israelis to behave likewise. Denouncing those remarks as “lies,” Lieberman recalled Israel's aid airlift to Turkey after its 1999 earthquake. Rather than questioning Israel's willingness for assistance in such a case, Davutoğlu was referring to the complicated decision-making processes in Israel due to the coalition government's composition, sources close to the minister told Today's Zaman.

Mustafa Kibaroğlu, a professor of international relations from Ankara's Bilkent University, maintains that the verbal distance maintained by Netanyahu vis-à-vis Lieberman's stance cannot help anything in regards to normalization with Turkey. “If Lieberman was a figure that wasn't in the government, such a distance would be sufficient. But Lieberman is a member of the government. We don't expect military discipline from a government, but if the same had happened in Turkey, the prime minister would not just say that remarks -- of insult against another country -- do not represent his government and would do whatever such a situation requires,” Kibaroğlu told Today's Zaman.

Lieberman also accused the Turkish government of abetting the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH), the charity organization that was among the groups organizing the Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla in May. Ankara wants Gaza's borders opened but distanced itself from the İHH mission.

“If anyone should apologize, it should be the Turkish government to Israel over cooperation with terrorist elements, support for terrorism, support for the İHH, Hamas and [Lebanese] Hezbollah. There will be no [Israeli] apology,” Lieberman had said.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, meanwhile said Monday that it is in Israel's best interests to reduce tensions with Turkey, while stressing that his Labor Party is committed to diffusing tensions with Turkey. "We must do what we can to moderate and restrain tensions with Turkey," Barak was quoted as saying by Haaretz daily. "We need to put the tensions behind us and not turn our disagreements with Turkey into a central topic in Middle East politics. It's in Israel's interests to reduce the tensions and to quickly return to a level of normalcy in our relations with Turkey," he added.