JERUSALEM: Israel’s hard-line foreign minister warned on Sunday that Turkey cannot resume its role of mediator in indirect talks with Syria.
“After all the verbal attacks and insults toward us expressed by the Turks, they cannot be considered as mediators between us and the Syrians,” Avigdor Lieberman said.
He spoke as Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer was preparing to leave for Ankara in the first such visit since the Israel’s devastating attack on Gaza, which sparked strong criticism from Turkey.
“We hope to re-establish relations of confidence with Ankara, as our mutual strategic interests are extremely important,” Eliezer said on public radio hours before his departure for the two-day trip. Israeli media said that among the topics to be discussed is the possibility of Turkey resuming a mediator role in indirect negotiations between Israel and Syria, contacts that were suspended amid the Gaza war at the turn of the year.
“If Turkey is impartial, (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu does not exclude that it will resume the mediation between Israel and Syria,” the Yediot Aharonot quoted an aide to the premier as saying.
Turkey has been a key regional ally but relations turned sour in January when Ankara launched an unprecedented barrage of criticism of Israel’s 21-day attack on Gaza, which left more than 1,400 people dead and many buildings destroyed.
