Manama: Speculation mounted in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that Turkey’s ambassador to Israel had asked his superiors in Ankara to transfer him to a new posting following his undiplomatic treatment by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.
Quoting Jewish Army Radio, Israeli media reported that Ahmet Oguz Celikkol had asked his superiors in Ankara to transfer him to a new posting and that the envoy was expected to be posted to a major European capital.
A senior official at the Israeli foreign ministry confirmed that Celikkol put in a request with the Turkish Foreign Ministry to leave his current post, Ynetnews reported.
However, the Jerusalem Post said that a Turkish embassy diplomat in Tel Aviv denied the report, expressing surprise and saying that Celikkol did not ask for a new posting.
“At the same time, if indeed he were to leave Israel, this would not be because he requested the move, but rather a because of a decision made by the policy makers in Ankara.”
Celikkol was last month summoned by the foreign ministry to explain a Turkish series dramatising abuses of Palestinian children by Israeli troops. However, Ayalon at the meeting had Celikkol sit at a lower armchair in front of a table and removed the Turkish flag, keeping only the Israeli one on it. He also refused to shake Celikkol’s hand in front of the press. The minister told photographers in Hebrew and in the presence of the ambassador: “Pay attention that he is sitting in a lower chair and we are in the higher ones, that there is only an Israeli flag on the table and that we are not smiling."
Ayalon's violation of diplomatic manners drew strong reaction from Turkey which threatened to withdraw the ambassador unless it received a prompt and formal apology from Israel. Tel Aviv eventually issued its apology, hoping to close the incident.
However, according to the Post, Celikkol insisted that there was "no way back" from that insult, and expressed an interest in leaving Israel.
The Turkish envoy is reported to have said that he would have a hard time re-gaining the respect of his interlocutors and would - as a result - not effectively be able to do his job. His top advisers have also expressed an interest in leaving.
Since the incident, Celikkol met Defense Minster Ehud Barak during his visit to Ankara, but has not held any high level meetings in Israel.
Relations between the two countries have been deteriorating following Turkish criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza.
In an interview marking the launch of Euronews broadcasting in Turkish on Saturday, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that “losing a friend like Turkey in the future should be an issue to which Israel should give some thought as to what it would be like.”
“The behaviour towards our ambassador has no place in international diplomacy. We have done our best for Israeli-Syrian relations,” he said.
