TURKISH-ISRAELI RELATIONS AT CRITICAL STAGE, TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER

LONDON (A.A) - 09.07.2010 - Turkey's minister of foreign affairs has said that Turkish-Israeli relations were currently in a critical stage and what would happen in the upcoming term would depend on Israel's attitude.
In an interview with Roula Khalaf, the Middle East editor of the Financial Times on Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the situation between Turkey and Israel was a legal issue, adding murderers of the 9 Turks on board Gaza-bound aid ships, their reasons to kill those people and consequences of such crime were questions that needed to be answered.
Turkey was insistent on the launching of an international investigation. The issue was not related to Turkey and Israel only, and it was a matter of international law which concerned the international community, Davutoglu said.
"The Turkish-Israeli relation is at a very critical stage and what will be happening in the coming weeks and months will be based on the Israel attitude, " Davutoglu said.
Upon a question on whether diplomatic ties between Turkey and Israel might be cut down, Davutoglu said, " There will be no normalisation, definitely our relations will be reviewed by us, from all perspectives".
Commenting on his recent meeting with Israeli Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Ben Eliezer, Davutoglu said such gathering showed Turkey's good intention aiming at finding a solution to the crisis, adding the demand for a meeting had come from the Israeli party and he had informed the Israeli minister on Turkey's demands.
Davutoglu said the meeting had not yielded to any positive results as it had been leaked to the press by Israel.
Upon FT editor Khalaf's question on various comments within the EU and USA expressing the concern that Turkey was no longer interested in EU adhesion, the Turkish foreign minister said such comments were "nonsense".
Noting Turkey was still committed to its EU process, he said, "Our integration process into the EU is the most strategic objective of Turkey. Nobody can blame Turkey for the delay in this process".
Commenting on the latest situation in its region as well, Davutoglu said, "Unfortunately, I am very, very concerned about the coming months in our region".
Pointing to the developments regarding Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, the Middle East peace process and Gaza, Davutoglu said, "These are all very fragile situations. Now we have to act very responsibly, all together".