Video of the meeting Monday between Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Turkish ambassador in Israel, Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, shows that the diplomatic incident created by the meeting was largely caused by Israeli television journalists, who did not cooperate with Ayalon in staging a photo-op that would convey an angry message to Turkey.
The video broadcast on Channel 2 TV shows Ayalon and two aides seated on chairs while Cellikol is seated on a lower sofa. One of the journalists asks Ayalon to shake Cellikol's hand for the cameras and Ayalon tells him, in Hebrew which Cellikol does not understand -- "of course not, that is the whole point." He then adds that it is important that the cameras show that the Israelis are sitting high and "he is low and there is only one flag. And you see that we are not smiling." He asks the journalists what channels they are from and they reply "2 and 10."
It is apparent that Ayalon believed that the conversation between him and the journalists would remain off the record and that the journalists would cooperate with his requests. The journalists did the exact opposite of this, and purposely embarrassed Ayalon by broadcasting their conversation with him.
Conciliatory tone?
The Turkish Foreign Ministry published an announcement Tuesday that criticized Israel while striking a conciliatory note as well. “Turkey helped the Jews in many periods throughout history, and the coexistence between Turks and Jews is based upon mutual respect and tolerance,” the ministry said.
"We reject the accusations that Turkey is 'the last country that can preach morals to Israel,'” the ministry added. It was referring to recent Israeli statements that “the Turks have absolutely no right to preach morality to the State of Israel and the IDF.”
“Turkey's aim continues to be the securing of peace, security and stability in all countries and for all nations,” the Turks said. “Turkey prefers dialog and negotiation to disproportional use of force.”
Earlier Tuesday, Ankara summoned Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy to a reprimand after the meeting between Ayalon and Turkish ambassador Celikkol.
MK Taleb El-Sana (Raam-Ta'al) said on Tuesday that he spoke to Celikkol on the phone and that the ambassador told him that he is scheduled to return to Turkey for consultations after the recent incident, and that he may not return. However, later reports quoted Turkish sources that denied this report.