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Turkey: No talks before Israeli apology

11 November 2010 02:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has renewed its call on Israel to apologize for its raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that left nine Turkish peace activists dead, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Erdogan says Ankara will not talk with Tel Aviv unless it apologizes and pays compensations for its "savage attack" on the aid ships in international waters on May 31.

"Israel will apologize. And Israel will have to pay compensation. And then we can start negotiating," Erdogan told France 24 television on Wednesday.

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was trying to deliver humanitarian supplies to the impoverished people of Gaza, who have been under Israel’s siege since 2007.

The assault has done a record damage to Israel-Turkey bilateral ties, already clouded over Tel Aviv’s attacks on Gaza at the turn of 2009, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

Erdogan went on to say that Turkish people will not forget Israel’s air and sea attacks against defenseless activists.

"How can you forgive attacks from the air and from the sea against a ship sailing under the Turkish flag and carrying passengers from all around the world who wanted to help other people?" he said.

"Let me say clearly that it is Israel who is responsible for the current state of our mutual relationship, and nobody should interpret it in another way," Erdogan he added.

The Turkish premier noted that there’s no excuse whatsoever for such an attitude.

"I consider it a savage attack to act like this in international waters. There is no other explanation to this," he said.

"Did they find any weapons? No. And they attacked these defenseless people from the air and from the sea. So there is no excuse whatsoever for such an attitude," Erdogan noted.

The UN Human Rights Council has ordered the investigation of the Israeli attack, saying that there is clear evidence to back prosecution against Tel Aviv.