Senior Israeli minister calls for calm after latest Turkish threat

Sep 9, 2011, 14:32 GMT

Tel Aviv - A senior Israeli minister called Friday for an end to the 'verbal sabre-rattling' between Israel and Turkey after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to deploy warships to escort future vessels carrying aid to the Gaza Strip.

'The things Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said are harsh and serious, but I don't think it would be right to get into any verbal sabre-rattling with him,' Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor told Israel Army Radio.

'Our silence is the best response. I hope this phenomenon will pass,' Meridor added.

Erdogan, in an interview Thursday with al-Jazeera television, said that Turkey 'will not allow our ships to be exposed to Israeli attacks,' as was the case with the lead ship of an aid flotilla sailing to the Gaza last May, 'because if this happens Israel will meet the appropriate response.'

Israeli-Turkey ties, on a downward spiral for years, hit their low point in May last year, when Israeli naval commandos killed nine Turkish activists while taking over a flotilla bound for the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.

Relations plunged even lower last week, when Turkey's demands for an Israeli apology over the flotilla deaths went unanswered and a UN report into the flotilla incident found that Israeli naval commandos had used 'excessive and unreasonable force' but had acted legally.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel wanted to improve relations with Ankara, and Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday he was certain Jerusalem and Ankara could 'overcome' their disagreements.

But on Friday, even as Deputy Premier Meridor was appealing for calm, Israel's mass-circulation Yediot Aharanot daily was reporting that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was planning a series of steps against Turkey.

These would include warning Israelis against visiting Turkey, cooperating with Kurdish PKK rebels and with the Armenians, and going on the offensive against Ankara.

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