Diplomacy
à la Lieberman
ABCD
Ankara -
Turkish President Abdullah Gul threatened Wednesday that should Israel not issue a formal apology over the publicized reprimand of the Turkish
ambassador, he would be recalled to Ankara.
ABCD
The incident started when
Israeli Deputy FM Danny Ayalon (left) summoned Turkish envoy Oğuz Çelikkol
(right) to the Knesset on Monday afternoon to express outrage over an episode of
a popular Turkish television series. Ayalon refused to shake hands and was seen telling the cameramen to film him sitting on a tall chair while Çelikkol
(right) sat on a lower chair, with the Israeli flag in the
middle, a scene designed by Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor
Lieberman. Ambassador Çelikkol was also filmed waiting in a corridor for the meeting to begin, and when it did, he was offered nothing to drink or
eat. During the photo-op at the start of the meeting, Ayalon told the photographers in
Hebrew: "Pay attention that he is sitting in a lower chair and we are in the higher ones, that there is only an Israeli flag on the table and that we are not
smiling."
Ayalon admitted that he and Lieberman had planned the details of the encounter, but told the radio station that such behavior was
standard diplomatic conduct, offering no apology. Lieberman said Israel won't tolerate anti-Semitic remarks and incitement against
Jews.
