By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
In an interview with the Turkish television channel that broadcast the anti-Israeli drama Aryrilik, Turkish President Abdullah Gül said on Sunday evening that his country would not remain silent in face of the "injustices" carried out by Israel and called Jerusalem's response to the show "incorrect."
"Turkey is one of the rare states that has strong ties with both Arab countries and with Israel. We will continue to criticize and act when necessary, without undermining the foundations of these ties," Gül was quoted as saying in an interview with Turkey's popular state-run TRT1 television station.
On Thursday, the Foreign Ministry's deputy director-general for Western Europe, Naor Gilon, called Turkey's charge d'affaires Ceylan Ozen to Jerusalem to protest the show, which variously depicted IDF soldiers shooting a fleeing Palestinian boy in the back, killing a sweetly smiling Palestinian girl at point-blank range, and lining up Palestinian detainees before an IDF firing squad.
The Turkish president also stressed the importance of accepting the Goldstone Commission's report on Operation Cast Lead.
"The acceptance of this report is very important," Turkish paper Hürriyet Daily News quoted Gül as saying. "The reaction Israel has shown against Turkey is incorrect. As a matter of fact, its incorrectness was proven by the report, which was endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council.
"That's why Israel should not overreact," Gül reportedly said. "Not only Turkey, the whole world … we will of course follow through with the report and how the other countries treat it at the Security Council."
On Saturday night, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan implicitly condemned Israel as a "persecutor" in televised remarks.
"Turkey has never, in its history, been on the side of persecutors, it has always defended the oppressed," he said in a speech in Kirsehir, central Turkey.
"Turkey is not hostile toward any country... but we oppose injustice," he added.
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