Erdogan, who offered Ankara's services in negotiating the release the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, reiterated his fierce criticism of Israeli policy towards Hamas. "The world has not respected the political will of the Palestinian people," the premier told The Washington Post.
"On the one hand, we defend democracy and we try our best to keep democracy in the Middle East, but on the other hand we do not respect the outcome of . . . the ballot box.
Palestine today is an open-air prison. Hamas, as much as they tried, could not change the situation. Just imagine, you imprison the speaker of a country as well as some ministers of its government and members of its parliament. And then you expect them to sit obediently?"
"There had not been any casualties in Israel since the cease-fire of June 2008," Erdogan said. "The Israelis claim that missiles were being sent [from Gaza]. I asked Prime Minister Olmert, how many people died as a result of those missiles? The United Nations Security Council makes a decision, and Israel announces it does not recognize the decision.
I'm not saying that Hamas is a good organization and makes no mistakes. They have made mistakes. But I am evaluating the end result."
"We have a serious relationship with Israel," Erdogan told the Post. "But the current Israeli government should check itself. They should not exploit this issue for the upcoming elections in Israel."
Peres called Erdogan on Friday following the blow-up at the World Economic Forum in Davos in a bid to soothe the tensions.
On Thursday, Erdogan stormed off the stage after he was cut off by the forum moderator and barred from responding to Peres' defense of Israel's 22-day offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Turkish media outlets reported that Peres had apologized to Erdogan during their five-minute phone conversation, but Peres' office denied the report, saying that the purpose of the telephone call was simply to ensure that the "crisis won't
deteriorate."
SOURCE: WP