Israel’s ambassador to Turkey excluded from iftar hosted by Erdogan
Israel’s ambassador to Turkey was excluded from an iftar hosted by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and attended by all the diplomats in the country.
Gabi Levi was not invited to the iftar feast marking the breaking of the fast hosted by the ruling party in reaction to Israel’s deadly raid on the Gaza flotilla in May, Turkish and Israeli media reported.
Israel’s May 31 deadly attack on the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish-flagged lead ship in the flotilla carrying aid to Palestinians in besieged Gaza, plunged relations between the two countries into deep crisis.
Omer Çelik, AK party chairman of foreign relations committee, said that the reason for not inviting the Israeli ambassador was not on a personal level, but rather a symbolic act against Israel’s policies.
“Anyone who is unjust or inequitable cannot pass the threshold of the Justice and Development party’s headquarters,” he reportedly said.
Israel’s foreign ministry said that “once again it appears that Erdogan is initiating an escalation and searching for it,” Israeli daily Haaretz reported.
Ankara last week said that it has set up its own inquiry into Israel’s raid on the Turkish-flagged ship that left nine Turkish citizens dead.
The probe will work under the office of Erdogan and will “investigate the attack and the treatment the activists faced” before reporting on its findings, Ankara said in a statement.
