Turkey Rejects ’’Israel’s’’ Participation in NATO Summit
A Turkish official announced Monday that his country has refused to allow ""Israel" to participate in a NATO conference set to take place in Chicago on May 20."
The Turkish decision came after the Zionist entity refused to apologize for massacring Turkish activists in a 2010 raid on Marmara ship carrying aid to Palestinians.
The Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu commented on the possible "Israeli" presence at the conference.
"There will be no "Israeli" presence at the NATO meeting unless they issue a formal apology and pay compensation for the Turkish citizens their commandos killed in international waters," Davutoglu stressed last week.
Meanwhile, US and European countries exerted pressures demanding that Turkey reverse its position on "Israeli" participation in the conference.
They even threatened to oppose the participation of Egypt, Morocco, Mauritania, and Algeria, other non-member nations invited to take part in the NATO "Mediterranean Dialogue" group.
The US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland commented on the Chicago summit by saying: "With regard to arrangements for the NATO summit and partnership events, as you know, "Israel" is one of NATO's partners in the Mediterranean dialogue. Those discussions are continuing as we head towards the May summit in Chicago."
However, Turkey abrogated any possibility of reversing its stance on the issue.
"The army of a country which you call a partner killed our citizens with a political order given by its administration. We do not call this kind of country a partner," Davutoglu responded.
The Turkish top diplomat fired back at his critics:
"I promise that Turkey will be the first to defend citizens of NATO countries in any similar situation. I believe in the principle of solidarity among NATO member nations much more than the principle of discrimination, practiced by some of you," he stressed.
Turkey also vetoed "Israeli" participation in the yearly "Active Endeavor" naval maneuver, in which four naval vessels from four different, non-member nations participate.
Similarly, Turkey stated that "Israel" will not receive any information from NATO radar systems installed in Turkey.
Source: Haaretz, Edited by moqawama.org
