Turkey rejects Israel's offer of post-quake aid

By ICEJ News

08 Mar 2010

After a 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Turkey on Monday, Israel began preparing a relief-and-rescue mission to assist quake victims, but the Islamist regime in Ankara has just as quickly declined Jerusalem's offer of support. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the defense establishment today to put together an aid proposal for Turkey, but his office was informed by Turkey that it did not require assistance at this time. The 6.0-magnitude quake shook the Elazig province in eastern Turkey before dawn, leaving some 57 people dead so far. Over a decade ago, when a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and killed some 18,000 people, an Israeli search-and-rescue team was instrumental in saving dozens of lives from collapsed buildings. But Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of the ruling Islamist party, has repeatedly assailed Israel since last winter’s IDF operation in Gaza, souring the once-strong regional alliance. In his latest tirade, Erdogan charged over the weekend that the “heritage” sites which Israel wants to preserve and promote – such as Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and the Cave of Patriarchs in Hebron – “were not and never will be Jewish sites, but Islamic sites.” According to Saudi newspaper Al Wattan, Erdogan added that, “Palestine [was] always at the top of Turkey’s priorities,” and that he “loves my brothers in Fatah and my brothers in Hamas to the same degree, because they are my Muslim brothers and I cannot distinguish between them.”

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