Israeli Foreign Ministry deliberately insults the Turkish ambassador in a "meeting of humiliation"

Following a humiliating meeting organised by Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, Israel has now entered a new arena of abuse and strained relations with Turkey. The meeting, during which Ayalon made degrading comments to the Turkish Ambassador in Tel Aviv, was organised in reprimand over a Turkish Television series.

Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon summoned the Turkish Ambassador in Israel, Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, following the broadcast of the Turkish television series “Valley of the fox”. Israel claims the programme has anti-Semitic orientations.

On Tuesday morning, the Israeli media quoted a statement from Danny Ayalon with regard to his meeting with the Turkish Ambassador in which he says: “It is sufficient that we sit in an elevated position from him, and that he sits lowly. There was only one flag on the table, and that was the Israeli flag. We do not laugh in his face.”

It is thought that Ayalon was unaware that media cameras were recording his statements which depict the unprecedented and violent harassment of the Turkish Ambassador. Israeli newspapers state that Ayalon’s comments came after a journalist requested that he shake hands with the Ambassador which he emphatically refused.

That Ayalon’s office sat the Turkish Ambassador on a lowered seat when the Deputy Foreign Minister and some ministry officials met him, while they themselves sat on elevated seats indicates that a degrading meeting was deliberately organised between the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Ambassador of Ankara.

The statements made by Ayalon come just as it was announced that the Israeli Security Minister, Ehud Barak, will visit Turkey. He is expected to arrive in next Sunday at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart, Wajdi Gonul.

Israeli press reports state that Barak will hold talks with Gonul and the Foreign Minister Ahmad Davutoglu in order to discuss bilateral relations that tend to swing between tension and calm. These will take place alongside discussions concerning previous agreements between the two parties in the field of military co-operation.