Unreal but not unexpected.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Friday bluntly told U.S. allies Israel and Turkey to “cool it” as tensions between the two rose over aid flotillas to Gaza.
Amid concern over a possible naval confrontation in the Mediterranean, the State Department said both sides should exercise restraint and avoid any provocations.
“We are urging both sides to refrain from rhetoric or actions that could be provocative, that could contribute to tensions,” spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters. “Obviously, we would like to see both sides cool it and get back to a place where they can have a productive relationship.”
She said that message was being delivered to both Turkish and Israeli officials. In Washington, the top U.S. diplomat for Europe, Philip Gordon, met on Thursday with Turkey’s ambassador to the United States to discuss the situation, she said.
Tension spiked again after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would send warships to escort future aid boats leaving its territory for Gaza to prevent a repeat of the 2010 incident. His comments to Al-Jazeera television on Thursday were the first time Turkey has said its navy will use force to protect ships attempting to break Israel’s blockade of the coastal Palestinian territory.
From yesterday:
(JPost) — Turkish warships will escort any Turkish aid vessels to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks broadcast on Al Jazeera television on Thursday.
Erdogan also said that Turkey had taken steps to stop Israel from unilaterally exploiting natural resources from the eastern Mediterranean, according to Al Jazeera’s Arabic translation of excerpts of the interview, which was conducted in Turkish.
Erdogan, who has rattled the saber by promising to step up naval patrols in the eastern Mediterranean to ensure freedom of maritime traffic, and who has frozen all defense contracts with Israel, also used the opportunity to preach to Israel about business ethics.
He accused Israel of not providing maintenance for Heron unmanned aerial vehicles that Israel Aerospace Industries supplied to Turkey last year. In 2005, IAI and Elbit Systems won a $183m. contract to supply 10 Heron UAVs and associated systems to the Turkish Air Force. Deliveries were completed last year.
“Israel is not being loyal to bilateral agreements in the defense industry,” Turkish Today’s Zaman’s website quoted Erdogan as saying. “There could be difficulties, problems with another country, such things may happen, but there is an international code of ethics that needs to be upheld in business agreements.”