CHP raises concerns over Israel’s apology

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

CHP deputy chair Faruk Loğoğlu said that US President Barack Obama is the architect of the apology process.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy chair Faruk Loğoğlu has dismissed Israel’s formal apology to Turkey over the Mavi Marmara killings of 2010, stressing that Israel’s apology came after a push from U.S. President Barack Obama. “If someone is to be congratulated, President Obama, who is the architect of the process, should be congratulated,” Loğoğlu said at a press conference in Parliament yesterday.

The delay, timing and method of Israel’s apology caused concerns, according to Loğoğlu. “Is this development a prologue to new conflicts in the region, or does it herald a peaceful and stable era for the region?” Loğoğlu asked.

In addition, CHP deputy Osman Korutürk asked Foreign Minister Davutoğlu to reveal scripts of telephone conversation in which Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netenyahu expressed a formal apology to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “Has Turkey made a commitment to a joint operation with Israel and the U.S. against Syria as well as against Iraq and Iran as next phases in return for Israel’s apology?” Korutürk asked Davutoğlu.

CHP seeks to censure FM

Meanwhile, the CHP has tabled a motion of censure against Davutoğlu over alleged secret energy deals with Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

“The government has signed secret and express agreements that would cause the division of our country and in Iraq as well. By way of such agreements, certain private companies obtained concessions from the government,” CHP deputy Aytun Çıray said. Çıray recently claimed that Turkey and the KRG secretly signed a “framework agreement” last year that outlined transportation and marketing of oil and gas sources in northern Iraq to the global market by excluding the central government in Baghdad.

“This deal is legally problematic. Signing a deal with the KRG instead of Iraq’s central government and adopting that deal without parliamentary consent is an unconstitutional act by the government and Foreign Minister,” Çıray said. “By signing a deal, Turkey recognized the KRG as a state that would bring Iraq to the brink of dissolution. Our foreign policy means that the integrity of Iraq was breached in this way,” Çıray said.

Arguing that an offshore company was founded by Turkey as part of the secret agreement, Çıray asserted that companies whose owners are close to the Turkish government are the shareholders in the offshore company.

Having issued a parliamentary question about the secret deal, Çıray said he had not received a response from Davutoğlu yet.