Turkish FM threatens Israel with sanctions within days if Jerusalem doesn’t apologize
01 September 2011
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmad Davutoglu has said that if Israel fails to apologize for its raid on the Gaza-bound Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in May 2010, in which nine Turks were killed, Ankara would impose unspecified sanctions against the Jewish state. Davutoglu said in an interview with the newspaper ‘Zaman’: “Turkey will be imposing sanctions that are well known by Israel and some other international parties.”

The final report of the Palmer Commission, a UN investigative panel which has conducted in inquiry into the incident, is expected to be released within the next days. This follows Turkey's rejection of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal that publication of the report be postponed for another six months to allow for more reconciliation talks between the two sides. Release of the report has been delayed three times since May, when it was first scheduled to be published.

“It is not remotely possible for us to agree to a six-month delay,” Davutoglu told the Turkish newspaper. “For us the deadline is the day the UN report gets released, or we resort to Plan B,” he added. “We have been told that there has been a consensus, including an apology and other issues, which means that we have made progress in the negotiations. But when it came to the final move, Israel always takes a step back at the last minute because of debates among its coalition,” the top Turkish diplomat alleged in the interview. He admitted that the report of the Palmer Commission would contain some conclusions that Turkey will reject.

On 31 May 2010, nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed and dozens more were injured when Israeli commandos boarded a ship participating in the 'Gaza Freedom Flotilla', which tried to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Israel said its commandos were being attacked by the activists on board the Mavi Marmara vessel.

» Turkey may expel Israeli ambassador in wake of Gaza flotilla report - Haaretz, Israel