Erdogan: Israel should oust Lieberman

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159974.html


Turkey's prime minister has called for the ousting of Avigdor Lieberman before the far-right Israeli foreign minister causes more political waves.

Speaking to the Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Lieberman constituted “a problem at the head of Israel.”

Tel Aviv was obliged to “rid” itself of the official whom, Erdogan said, was in a course of creating further political problems.

Relations between Turkey and Israel took record damage after Tel Aviv's May 31 violent attack on an Ankara-backed aid convoy, known as Freedom Flotilla.

The commando assault on the fleet, which had set sail for the Gaza Strip, killed nine Turkish activists and injured around 50 others, causing international furor.

The ties had already been soured by Israel's December 2008-January 2009 war on the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.

In December, Lieberman said Israel would never apologize to Turkey over the deadly convoy attack.

It was “a cheek” for Ankara to request an apology before normalizing ties with Tel Aviv, he said.

Ankara has also asked Tel Aviv to compensate the families of the human rights campaigners who were killed in the May incident.