Israel’s defense minister said that a daylong visit to Turkey had helped end an ugly diplomatic feud, but analysts expressed skepticism that the trip would ease tensions rising since Israel’s Gaza war.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told reporters on Sunday that the countries had moved beyond a disagreement that erupted after Israel’s deputy foreign minister deliberately humiliated the Turkish ambassador to express anger over an anti-Israeli show on Turkish TV.
Israel apologized, and Barak said at a joint news conference with Turkey’s defense minister that, “I believe it was a mistake, and the right step was taken according to the norms of diplomacy.”
“It is appropriate that all the ups and downs in our relationship over the years should be solved and put behind us,” Barak said.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was satisfied with Barak’s description of the humiliation as a mistake and said Turkey would not pursue the issue further.
Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul did not address the diplomatic spat directly and said the two countries had common interests but delivered an assessment of the relationship that Israeli analysts saw as lukewarm at best.
“We are strategic allies as long as our interests force us to do so,” said the minister, who is not a fluent English speaker. “We are living in the same area. Although we don’t have common borders, we have the same interests.”
Turkish defense ministry officials could not be reached for comment on the his choice of words. But Israeli analysts described the remark as evidence that relations were not back to what they were.
“The honeymoon days of the ’90s are over and will not return,” said defense analyst Alon Ben-David, reporting from Ankara for Israel’s Channel 10 TV.
Turkish analysts said they doubted that Turkey was prepared to back away from its harsh criticism of Israel’s offensive in Gaza a year ago, a conflict that threatened the military and economic alliance between the two countries.
“It is not possible for relations to return to the warm level they were at up until recently,” said Ali Tekin, an assistant professor of international relations at Ankara’s Bilkent University.
Dogu Ergil, a former political science professor at Ankara University and a columnist for Zaman newspaper, said neither country was ready to break off ties but Turkey wanted to keep relations at a low profile.
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