Israeli ambassador exits Turkey as Gaza row mounts
ISTANBUL: Israel’s ambassador to Turkey left the country after being ordered out by Ankara in a growing crisis over the killing by Israeli fire of dozens of Palestinians on the Gaza border that threatens a reconciliation deal.
Israeli ambassador Eitan Naeh departed for Tel Aviv via Istanbul airport under the full glare of the Turkish media, who appeared to have been specially invited to film his exit.
Naeh has been told by Turkey to stay away for an unspecified period of time.
Turkey had already withdrawn its Tel Aviv ambassador for consultations, while Israel ordered the Turkish consul in Jerusalem to leave, also for an unspecified period of time.
Turkey’s foreign ministry said it also told the Israeli consul general in Istanbul to leave the country ‘for a period of time’.
The manner of Naeh’s departure angered the Israeli government, with the ambassador filmed going through an extra security check and then sitting alone at the gate.
Israel’s foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned the Turkish charge d’affaires in Israel to its Jerusalem headquarters for a reprimand over what it called ‘inappropriate treatment’ of the ambassador.
In a statement, it said that Naeh was subjected to “a stringent security check in the pre-arranged presence of the Turkish media”.
The Israeli statement also invited local news teams to film Turkish charge d’affaires Umut Deniz when he arrived at the foreign ministry.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu have exchanged bitter accusations on Twitter over the row, which threatens a 2016 deal to normalise relations after a crisis over the deadly storming of a Turkish ship by Israeli commandos in 2010.
Erdogan lashed out again, slamming what he perceived as international silence and warning the world would be dragged into chaos unless Israel’s ‘tyranny’ was stopped. — AFP