This Monday, at the New Economic forum in Madrid, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu slated the Israeli government for “keeping the region under constant tension with the use or threat of military force and said Tel Aviv’s current policies are apparently in conflict with Turkey’s vision of peace for the region,” Today’s Zaman quotes Davutoglu Nov. 17. NEWS.am presents excerpts from the article.

“Unfortunately the Gaza onslaught by Israeli defense forces against Palestinian civilians had halted all ongoing peace processes, including the Turkish mediated Syrian-Israeli indirect talks. Ankara’s foreign policy has not changed with respect to Israel over the course of many Turkish governments,” the source reads.

Davutoglu stressed that the “ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government has pursued and will always pursue the same policies” and warned that the “continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories has been a source of tension between Turkey and Israel for many years. Settlement is also a major concern for many world powers including the US, the European Union, and Russia, all of which have called for an immediate halt to all illegal settlement expansion by the Israeli government.”

As concerns the “controversial status” of Jerusalem, Davutoglu stated, “We do not recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and believe that East Jerusalem is Palestinian territory.”

Dismissing anti-Semitic accusations as baseless, Davutoglu stressed that the Turkish government’s position is not directed against the Israeli public or the Israeli state but rather aimed at the policies adopted by the Israeli government. “We already told the Israelis that our prime minister would criticize the Israeli government for creating the humanitarian civilian tragedy in Gaza while stressing that the Turkish government is staunchly against anti-Semitism,” Davutoglu concluded.