RAMALLAH, Jan 13 (JMCC) - Turkish Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan called for the resignation of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in an interview with
Al-Jazeera today.
Israelis must rid themselves [of Lieberman] and that is surely their
duty and not ours, Erdogan said in the interview.
Netanyahu's
government is the worst or the least fortunate in the history of
Israel .
As a problem at the head of Israel, Lieberman has repeatedly aggravated regional diplomatic relations and irked Turkey since the raid of the Turkish aid ship
Mari Marmara last year.
Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv and Turkish leaders repeatedly denounced Israel over the raid. Turkey has made an Israeli apology and compensation for the victims' families a condition for improved ties.
When the Israelis meet these conditions we will reassess the situation, Erdogan said.
The unravelling of relations with Turkey elicited some of Lieberman's characteristically blunt talk.
[Lieberman] has likened Turkey to Iran on the eve of its 1979 Islamic revolution, and said it was difficult to distinguish any difference between the anti-Israel vitriol of the two countries' leaders today.
He countered a Turkish demand for an Israeli apology for the raid with his own demand that the Turkish government apologize to Israel instead for supporting terror.
Read more at
Al Jazeera...