ANKARA, June 2, (Agencies): Turkey demanded Israel lift its blockade of Gaza as a condition for normalising relations but added it was time that “calm replaced anger” after Israel’s deadly raid on a Turkish-backed aid flotilla. “The future of ties with Israel will depend on the attitude of Israel,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference in Ankara on Wednesday on his return from the United States. “I see no reason for not normalizing the ties, once the Gaza blockade is lifted and our citizens are released.” Turkey cancelled joint military exercises and recalled its ambassador from Israel after the flotilla incident on Monday. Davutoglu said three of nine activists killed when Israeli commandos stormed ships trying to take aid to Gaza had been identified as Turks, while a fourth had a Turkish credit card. He was speaking as Israel’s navy prepared to block another aid ship, the MV Rachel Corrie, on course to enter Gazan waters on Wednesday.

Davutoglu spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday to discuss the diplomatic crisis, and had been in New York a day earlier for a UN Security Council meeting called by Turkey to pass a resolution condemning Israel’s actions. Turkey was awaiting the repatriation on Wednesday of hundreds of activists from Israel, after sending civilian and military aircraft to bring them home. “I told Mrs. Clinton on the phone that we would review all ties with Israel if our citizens were not released within 24 hours, which is tonight,” Davutoglu said, though he noted two were too badly wounded to travel. Washington faces difficulties stepping into a crisis between two heavyweight military powers whose friendship has helped U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East. Davutoglu called for the United Nations to investigate the incident, and was scathing about the prospects for an Israeli probe. “We want a detailed investigation by United Nations into Israel’s rogue state actions,” Davutoglu said. “What can be expected from an investigation run by a state in criminal status. It’s Israel’s actions that need to be investigated.”

A once-close ally of Israel, Turkey became a harsh critic after the Israeli offensive in Gaza in December 2008. But the killings of Turks on a Turkish-flagged ship in international waters has brought the strained relationship between the Jewish state and Turkey’s Islamist-leaning government close to breaking point.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has become one of the most popular figures in the Islamic world by championing the Palestinian cause. With polls due in Turkey by July next year, Erdogan’s strong stand in foreign policy could win support for his AK Party. Protests have been held outside Israeli diplomatic missions in Ankara and Istanbul since Monday. “It’s time that calm replaced anger in reaction to Israel, people should avoid impulsive behavior,” Davutoglu said. “The security of families of Israeli diplomats, Israeli tourists and Jewish Turks is our nation’s honour. We will be making sure they are safe.”

Review
Turkey’s parliament called on the government Wednesday to review all ties with Israel as the country prepared a huge welcome home for hundreds of Turks detained after Israel’s bloody raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. In Israel, all of the nearly 700 activists from the aid ships were at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, waiting to be deported, airport officials said. Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said Israel decided not to prosecute any of them, writing in an order Wednesday that “keeping them here would do more damage to the country’s vital interests than good.” Israel has come under harsh international condemnation after its commandos stormed a six-ship aid flotilla Monday in international waters, setting off clashes that killed nine activists and wounded dozens. The activists were trying to break the three-year-old Israeli and Egyptian naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Turkish and Greek protesters were to fly home on special planes sent by their respective governments, while others from the nearly 20 nationalities on the ships were traveling home on commercial flights. A big homecoming rally to celebrate the activists was being held later Wednesday in Istanbul’s main square.
The commando raid has seriously strained ties between Israel and Turkey. Turkey withdrew its ambassador, scrapped war games with Israel and demanded a UN Security Council meeting on the clash as a result. Hundreds of Turks protested Israel’s commando raid for a third day Wednesday and Israeli diplomats’ families began packing to leave following orders from the Israeli government. The Turkish Parliament in Ankara held a heated debate on whether to impose military and economic sanctions on Israel. But lawmakers from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party objected to the measures, apparently trying to avoid aggravating the situation.

Still, in a statement approved by a show of hands, Turkish lawmakers said Israel must formally apologize for the raid, pay compensation to the victims and bring those responsible to justice. “This attack was an open violation of United Nations rules and international law,” Deputy Parliament Speaker Guldal Mumcu said, reading out the declaration. “Turkey should seek justice against Israel through national and international legal authorities,” the declaration said. “The parliament expects the Turkish government to revise the political, military and economic relations with Israel, and to take effective measures.” Erdogan, meanwhile, chaired a security meeting Wednesday of the country’s top military commanders to discuss the Israeli raid as well as intensified Kurdish rebel attacks in the southeast. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Israel agreed not to charge the activists after Turkey applied diplomatic pressure. “We have clearly stated that we would review our ties with Israel if all Turks not released by the end of the day,” Davutoglu told a news conference. “No one has the right to try people who were kidnapped in international waters.”

Davutoglu also called for an international commission to investigate the nine deaths in the Israeli commando raid. A Turkish delegation was in Israel to oversee the return of the detained Turks and two Turks in serious condition would remain in Israeli hospitals with a Turkish doctor, he said. “We will not leave them to the mercy of anyone,” Davutoglu said. Interior Minister Besir Atalay said Turkey had beefed up security to protect its Jewish minority as well as Israel’s diplomatic missions. He said security provisions were intensified at 20 points in Istanbul alone. The city has several synagogues and Jewish centers.

In the past, there have been occasional attacks on Turkey’s Jewish community of 23,000 people. In 2003, al-Qaida-linked suicide bombers attacked the British consulate, a British bank and two Jewish synagogues in Istanbul, killing 58 people. In 1986, gunmen killed 22 people in an attack on Istanbul’s Neve Shalom synagogue. On Monday, hours after Israeli marines stormed the Turkish ship, a Turk threw a punch at an Israeli cyclist at international cycling race in northwestern Turkey. The cyclist dodged the punch and police arrested the man. “Our Jewish citizens are not foreigners here. They make up an essential part of our community. We have lived together for centuries, and we will continue to do so,” Davutoglu said. Most of Turkey’s Jews are descendants of people expelled from Spain in 1492 for refusing to convert to Christianity, and were welcomed by Ottoman Sultan Beyazit. Other Jews found refuge in Turkey after fleeing Nazi persecution during World War II.

Action
Turkey’s justice ministry is mulling possible legal action against Israel over its deadly raid on aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip, Anatolia news agency reported Wednesday. Officials are looking into both domestic and international law to see what action might be undertaken after Monday’s operation in international waters that left nine people dead, among them at least four Turks, the report said. The ministry will also decide whether to file a complaint with Turkish prosecutors, it said. Calling the raid a “bloody massacre,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Tuesday urged an international inquiry into the raid, insisting that Israel’s “lawlessness” must be punished. “It is no longer possible to cover up or ignore Israel’s lawlessness. It is time for the international community to say ‘enough is enough’,” he said. Most of the bloodshed occurred on a Turkish-flagged ship, the Mavi Marmara, carrying hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists from about 30 countries, mostly Turkish nationals mobilised by an Islamist charity.