Israel says never apologizes to Turkey

Israel’s foreign minister says Tel Aviv will never apologize to Turkey over its deadly attack on an Ankara-backed aid convoy, which was sailing for Gaza in May.

It was “a cheek” for Ankara to request an apology before normalizing ties with Tel Aviv, Avigdor Lieberman said in al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Sunday. “There will be no apology” from Israel, he asserted.

While Israel is known to provide assistance to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, who launch terror attacks on Turkish soil, Lieberman accused Turkey of supporting terrorism. “The ones who have to apologize are the government of Turkey for supporting terror.”

PKK launches its attacks from Iraq’s Qandil Mountains in the areas under the control of Massoud Barzani, the president of Kurdistan Regional Government, which rules the Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Qandil mountain range is also where Israeli firms reportedly operate. The terrorists have vowed allegiance to Tel Aviv, referring to Ankara as a “common enemy.”

The head of an Iraqi clerical association and the country’s most influential Sunni cleric, Harith al-Dhari has also said that companies affiliated with the Israeli Spy Agency Mossad are freely operating all over Iraq. He said Israeli companies are particularly concentrated in the countries in northern Kurdistan region.

“The companies are directly working with Zionist spy agencies,” he said and noted that “Israeli companies infiltrating Iraq work under Arabic, English and Turkish names.”

On May 31, Israeli commandos violently attacked the aid-laden relief mission, known as Freedom Flotilla, which had set sail for the Gaza Strip, killing nine Turkish activists and injuring around 50 others.

On Saturday, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu repeated Ankara’s demands of apology and compensation over the attack, saying that “nothing can cover up” the deadly act of aggression, the Associated Press reported.

Thousands in Turkey welcomed the return of the lead vessel of the fleet, Mavi Marmara at the port of Sarayburnu in Istanbul in northwestern Turkey on Sunday.