Turkey recalls envoy, 'writes off' Netanyahu

Istanbul [Turkey], November 10: Turkey said Saturday it was recalling its ambassador to the Zionist entity and breaking off contacts with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in protest at the bloodshed in Gaza. Ankara announced the decisions on the eve of what promises to be a difficult visit to Turkey by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Palestinian ally Turkey had been mending torn relations with the Zionist entity until last month's start of the Zionist-Hamas war.
But its tone hardened against both the Zionist entity and its Western supporters - particularly the United States - as the fighting escalated and the death toll among Palestinian civilians soared. The Turkish foreign ministry said ambassador Sakir Ozkan Torunlar was being recalled for consultations "in view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza caused by the continuing attacks by (the Zionist entity) against civilians, and (the Zionist entity's) refusal (to accept) a ceasefire".
Meanwhile, Honduras became the latest Latin American country Friday to recall its ambassador to the Zionist entity for consultations on what it described as the "serious humanitarian situation" facing Palestinians in Gaza. "In the face of the serious humanitarian situation suffered by the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, the government" has called envoy Roberto Martinez to Tegucigalpa "for consultations," foreign minister Enrique Reina said on X, formerly Twitter.
Zionist forces have encircled Gaza's largest city while trying to crush Hamas in retaliation for Oct 7 raids into the Zionist entity. The health ministry in Gaza says around 9,500 people - mostly women and children - have since been killed in Zionist strikes and the intensifying ground campaign. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan separately told reporters that he held Netanyahu personally responsible for the growing civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip. "Netanyahu is no longer someone we can talk to. We have written him off," Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying.
The Zionist entity had earlier withdrawn all diplomats from Turkey and other regional countries as a security precaution. The Zionist foreign ministry said last weekend it was "re-evaluating" relations with Ankara because of Turkey's increasingly heated rhetoric about the Zionist-Hamas war. Erdogan said Saturday that Turkey could not afford to entirely break off diplomatic contacts between the sides. "Completely severing ties is not possible, especially in international diplomacy," Erdogan said.
He said MIT intelligence agency chief Ibrahim Kalin was spearheading Turkey's efforts to try and mediate an end to the war. "Ibrahim Kalin is talking to the (Zionist) side. Of course, he is also negotiating with Palestine and Hamas," Erdogan said. But he said Netanyahu bore primary responsibility for the violence and had "lost the support of his own citizens". "What he needs to do is take a step back and stop this," Erdogan said.
The Turkish leader had taken a far more cautious tone in the first days of the war. The Zionist entity and Turkey had only last year agreed to reappoint ambassadors after a decade of all but frozen relations. They were also resuming discussions on a US-backed natural gas pipeline project that could have formed the basis for much closer and more lasting cooperation in the coming years.
But Erdogan led a massive rally in Istanbul last weekend during which he accused the Zionist government of behaving like a "war criminal" and trying to "eradicate" Palestinians. Still more protests will greet Blinken on Sunday when the top US diplomat begins a two-day visit to Ankara marking the last leg if his Middle East tour. The IHH humanitarian relief fund - a group whose attempts to organize a flotilla to Gaza in 2010 sparked Zionist raids that claimed 10 civilian lives - is organizing a protest march and car rally on a military base in southeastern Turkey housing US weapons and troops.
The IHH convoy is expected to reach the Incirlik Air Base from Istanbul on Sunday. Blinken was meeting with Arab counterparts in the Jordanian capital Amman on Saturday after visiting the Zionist entity the day before. But he left the Zionist entity empty-handed after urging its leaders to do more to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip. - AFP
Source: Kuwait Times