Today.Az » World news » Turkey's FM says deadly Gaza offensive damaged Israeli ties
13 January 2010 [20:20] - Today.Az
Davutoglu met with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband as part of his working visit to London.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, "Israel's offense against Gaza became a milestone in Turkey-Israel relations. Turkey-Israel relations will change positively as soon as Israel assumes a peaceful policy."
Davutoglu met with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband as part of his working visit to London.
Davutoglu said at a joint news conference following the meeting, "recent developments in Turkey-Israel relations were not results of any distance or a problem with the EU.
Any islamization of Turkish foreign policy is also out of question. People should not forget that the same government in Turkey made great efforts to ensure peace in Israel-Syria relations. But Israeli offense against Gaza damaged all those efforts and became a milestone in Turkey-Israel relations."
Israel now faces UN war crimes report that particularly details Israel's alleged war crimes during the Gaza offensive that nearly 1500 Palestinians were killed.
"Turkey has made great efforts for regional peace. But an attack destroyed the ground for peace," he said.
"As one of the leading countries in this region, we cannot tolerate humanitarian tragedies," he said.
A year after the offensive, Gazans still lacked houses, children did not have schools and the blockade continued, he said.
"Gaza is still like a ghetto in our region," he added.
Davutoglu said that Turkey-Israel relations would change positively as soon as Israel assumed a peaceful policy.
/World Bulletin/
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