Amidror: Apology to Turkey Wasn't Made Under U.S. Pressure (Israel)

Arutz Sheva - Israel National News ^ | 3/24/2013, 4:08 AM

[haffast]

National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror confirmed on Saturday night that the situation in Syria was the main reason for Israel’s apology to Turkey for the Mavi Marmara incident.

“The Middle East has changed,” he told Channel 2 News. “Between us and Turkey there is a state with chemical stockpiles that may get into hostile hands and Turkey has an interest to prevent this from happening, as does Israel.”

Amidror claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s phone call to Turkey did not come as a result of U.S. pressure.

"There was no American pressure,” he said. “It was our idea. We came to the Americans and they helped us with the initiative. We have been holding talks with the Turks for quite some time, and if the Turks had not made mistakes along the way it might have ended earlier. The U.S. mediation certainly helped the fact that we brought the conflict to an end with the conclusion of Obama's visit to Israel.”

As for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's anti-Israel statements over the past few years, Amidror said, "I do not believe that he will continue to attack Israel as he did before. If he was interested in continuing to attack Israel he would not have accepted Israel's demands to cancel the lawsuits against IDF soldiers and appoint an ambassador to Israel."

According to Amidror, the restoration of relations with Turkey will give Israel leeway to act against the threats coming from Syria.

"Once the relationship with Turkey will return to normal, the Turks will lose their desire to harm the relationship between Israel and NATO," he explained.

snip

[haffast]

"Ayalon estimated that Erdogan decided to become more flexible because of the mistake he made last month, when he called Zionism "a crime against humanity" and received sharp international criticism."

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[haffast]

Netanyahu: Syria Chaos a Factor in Turkey Apology
By Gil Ronen First Publish: 3/23/2013, 7:59 PM

“In addition, the visit by U.S. President Obama, along with Secretary of State Kerry, created a diplomatic opportunity to end the crisis.

“Therefore, toward the end of the American president’s visit, I decided to call the Turkish prime minister in order to end the crisis and patch up relations between the countries.”

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/166500#.UU5lsTfDBkg

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks haffast.

"Between us and Turkey there is a state with chemical stockpiles that may get into hostile hands and Turkey has an interest to prevent this from happening, as does Israel... There was no American pressure... It was our idea. We came to the Americans and they helped us with the initiative. We have been holding talks with the Turks for quite some time, and if the Turks had not made mistakes along the way it might have ended earlier. The U.S. mediation certainly helped the fact that we brought the conflict to an end with the conclusion of Obama's visit to Israel.”

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[Intolerant in NJ]

Amidror claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s phone call to Turkey did not come as a result of U.S. pressure...and yet local ABC TV in Philly last night played it as Obama persuaded Israel to make the call, as though it was a major achievemen for the Prez - local TV news really is worthless when it comes to anything but the weather and sports scores......