TEL AVIV Ñ Turkey has pledged not to downgrade its strategic relations with
Israel following the victory of an Islamic-oriented party in last week's elections.
But a leader of the Justice and Islamic Development Party, or AKP, said military and strategic ties with Israel should be reconsidered in light of "terrorism" against the Palestinians.
Israeli officials said the Foreign Ministry in Ankara relayed such a
message in wake of the victory of the Justice and Islamic Development Party,
or AKP, on Sunday. The officials quoted the Turkish message as reassuring
Israel that Ankara would not revise its economic and defense relations with
the Jewish state.
That message was also relayed by Turkey's ambassador to Israel, Feridun
Sinirlioglu. The ambassador told an audience at Tel Aviv University on
Wednesday night that bilateral relations will not be revised in wake of the
AKP victory.
But in Ankara, AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not rule out a
Turkish reassessment of military relations with Israel. Erdogan said Turks
are angry over the Israeli-Palestinian war and consider Israeli policies to
be terrorism.
"The whole Turkish population is very critical of what is going on in
Palestine," Erdogan said. "Our public does not view this as anything
anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic. They see it as the terrorism of [Prime
Minister Ariel] Sharon."
Asked whether an AKP-led government would reduce military ties with
Israel, Erdogan responded "It would not be correct to talk about these
before accepting the official duties of government."
