Israeli state to be judged by own history: Turkish PM

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. AA Photo

Last week’s air raid by Israel on a military complex near Damascus is simply yet another reflection of Israeli “state terror,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said today, blaming those who have been constantly “spoiling” Israel for such an attitude.

“Those who have from the very beginning looked in the wrong direction and who have nourished and raised Israel like a spoiled child should always expect such things from Israel. Moreover, this is not Israel’s first intervention of this kind into Syria. It conducted many interventions prior to this one too. The issue of the Golan Heights is obvious,” Erdoğan said at a press conference ahead of his departure from Istanbul for an official visit to Prague.

This is not the first time that Erdoğan has described Israel as a “spoiled child,” having previously accused both the United States and the United Nations of “giving credit to unilateral spoiled practices of Israel and ignore Israel’s inhuman actions.”

He also said Israel had a state structure that would not be forgiven by its own history.
“I have been saying from time to time that Israel has an understanding that piles up state terror. At the moment, where and what it will do is not certain either,” Erdoğan said.

‘Iran needs to review Syria policy’

When reminded of Iranian officials’ aggressive remarks encouraging Syria to retaliate against Israel, Erdoğan chose to harshly criticize the neighboring country for its general policy regarding Syria, rather than address Iran’s statements on Israel.

“Iran should check and review the stance it has assumed so far toward Syria. We believe that Iran’s attitude toward Syria so far has not been positive,” Erdoğan said, recalling that almost 60,000 Syrian citizens with whom Iran holds common values had so far been killed in the conflict.

“Iran is still silent while these people are being killed there,” he said, rhetorically asking what Iran was doing to ease the sufferings of Syrian refugees.

The prime minister also said Israel’s raid deserved action beyond mere condemnation, “However, with Iran reviewing its attitude toward Syria, if there was no such picture in Syria, then the matter between Israel and Syria might not have reached this point either.”

FM: Why no response from Syria?

For his part, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has questioned why Syria has not yet responded to the Israeli attack and questioned whether there was a secret deal between the Syrian regime and Israel.
Davutoğlu’s remarks, delivered to a group of journalists on Feb. 1 en route from Turkey to Serbia for an official visit, were published on Feb. 2.

“The Syrian army, which has been attacking its own innocent civilian people with planes, tanks and cannons for 22 months, hasn’t responded to this operation of Israel. Why does he not even throw a tiny pebble when Israeli planes are flying over [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad’s palace and offending his country’s honor?” Davutoğlu was quoted as saying.

“Is there a secret agreement between Israel and al-Assad?” he asked, while also underlining that he could not remain silent in the face of an Israeli attack on any Muslim country.