“On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the true motive to resume ties with Turkey was Tel Aviv’s concerns over Syria’s chemical weapons.”
Israeli President Shimon Peres says Israel has a thousand reasons to be friends with Turkey, expressing his satisfaction with the resumption of relations with Ankara.
Peres stated that somehow both Israel and Turkey “wanted to put an end to this misunderstanding and return to the good relations that have existed between Turkey and ourselves for many good years.”
He added that Israel and Turkey are both concerned over the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria.
On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the true motive to resume ties with Turkey was Tel Aviv’s concerns over Syria’s chemical weapons.
On Friday, Israel announced a full resumption of diplomatic relations with Turkey after Netanyahu phoned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and apologized to him over the deaths of nine Turkish activists in an Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound international flotilla.
The Israeli military attacked the Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, 2010, killing nine Turkish nationals aboard the Turkish-flagged MV Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other activists that were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.
The Israeli apology was brokered by US President Barack Obama during his recent visit to Israel. Netanyahu had previously only expressed regret for the killings and refused to publicly apologize.
On December 17, 2012, Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari said in letters to the UN Security Council and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the foreign-backed militants could use chemical weapons against Syrians and try to shift the blame to the government.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Syrian army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
Damascus says the West and its regional allies including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are supporting the militants.
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