The mainstream media focused attention on Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “complex” about apologies”. In fact, this year the Turkish PM demanded “apologies” from Germany, Israel and Armenia.

1.Germany

“Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan demanded an apology from German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday over recent accusations that Turkey is not taking sufficient steps toward resolving the Cyprus issue,” Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review reported.

“It is meaningful that the Chancellor of Germany carries her populist politics into Cyprus. Those statements do not give the impression of a leader with vision. We say that Merkel should revise her knowledge of history and apologize,” Erdogan told his deputies during a Justice and Development Party, or AKP, parliamentary group meeting in Ankara.”

“The harsh comments came after Merkel described the Turkish Cypriot presence in northern Cyprus as an "invasion" during a recent visit to southern Cyprus. She criticized Turkey and Turkish Cypriots for not doing enough to reach a deal with Greek Cypriots.”

“Merkel’s statements not only hurt but they also reflect a lack of historical knowledge and contradict statements she made in the past,” Erdogan said. “Merkel showed how unfamiliar she is with Cyprus dispute.”

Stressing that the European Union and the United Nations were ultimately responsible for the negotiations, Erdogan said they were still looking for a criminal and blamed Turkey. However, Turkey would not give away a single gram of northern Cyprus, he said.

2.Israel

“Relations between Israel and Turkey continue to be cold as the report on what happened on board of the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara vessel pertaining to a flotilla that was heading for Gaza with humanitarian help is about to be read on the floor of the United Nations,” Metrolic reports referring to the confrontation between Israel and Turkey.

In spite of rumors about secret talks between Turkish and Israeli leaderships to the purpose of thawing relations between two state that used to have excellent relations, in a speech delivered on Friday to the parliament Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan gave no sign of softening, and restated that there would be no improvement in the relations between the two sides unless Israel presented an apology for the loss of nine Turkish lives in the clash with the Israeli Defense Forces during the boarding, on May 30, 2010.

Erdogan said that normalization was “unthinkable,” unless the Israelis apologized for the “illegal act which is against international law,” until payment was made to the relatives of those killed in “this atrocious event,” and the embargo on Gaza was lifted.

The raising of the stakes by adding the lifting the embargo on Gaza proves that Turkish Prime Minister feels that Israel may be in a difficult spot right now and could consent to at least some of these demands, though it is unconceivable that it would lift the blockade on Gaza. Or maybe not.

Erdogan’s remarks in parliament come at the end of an European tour Benyamin Netanyahu took to Europe, during which he visited France, UK, Germany and two states in Eastern Europe: Romania and Bulgaria.

While in Bulgaria, Netanyahu practically promised the Bulgarians something as big as a “merger” between the economy of Israel and that of their country, signing more economic treaties and sealing off more deals than Bulgarians had ever dreamt of.

Did he send a message to Ankara by proclaiming Bulgaria, one of the poorest countries within the European Union, the strategic partner of Israel in the Balkans, a place where Turkey has huge interests, or was he just courting the Bulgarians for their vote in the U.N. General Assembly in September in case Palestinians want to proclaim a state of their one and demand official recognition? Or was he simply interested in putting Bulgarian food on the table of the Israelis? Could have been all three combined.

Israel agreed last year to pay compensations to the families of the people killed in the IDF’s raid, and even to express regret for the loss of their lives, but under no circumstance did it agree to offer an apology, which would be in their eyes admitting that they had been acting outside the frame of the international law, which they have systematically denied.

Since the beginning of the inquiries in the case Israel affirmed that the actions of the IDF were perfectly legitimate, though unfortunately they resulted in loss of human lives.”

3. Armenia

“Israel can take solace that it is not the only country in the world from which Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking an apology: On Wednesday he demanded one from Armenia as well,” The Jerusalem Post reports.

“The Turkish news website Today’s Zaman, reporting on Erdogan’s current trip to Azerbaijan, quoted him as saying that Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan should apologize for calling on Armenian school children to occupy eastern Turkey.

Sarksyan, asked by a student if Armenia would get back its “western territories” along with Mount Ararat – an area of great historical significance to Armenians – that’s now in Turkey, replied that “it depends on you and your generation. I believe my generation has fulfilled the task in front of us; when it was necessary in the beginning of the ’90s to defend part of our fatherland – Karabakh – from the enemy, we did it. I am not telling this to embarrass anyone. My point is that each generation has its responsibilities and they have to be carried out with honor.

The statement infuriated Turkey. According to Today’s Zaman, Erdogan said Sarksyan’s behavior was a provocation and an attempt to fill youth with hatred, which he said would lead Armenia’s youth into “darkness.”

“There cannot be such diplomacy. Sarksyan has made a very serious mistake.... He must apologize,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.

Erdogan’s demand for an Armenian apology comes just a few days after he threatened Israel with a “Plan B” – a further downgrading of ties – if it did not apologize for last year’s Mavi Marmara incident.

“What we see here is a pattern developing,” one Israeli diplomatic source said of Erdogan’s most recent demand for an apology. “Who is going to ask Erdogan to apologize for Turkey’s occupation of northern Cyprus?”

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s senior forum of eight ministers – a body known as the octet – met on Wednesday, but, according to government officials, did not deal with the Mavi Marmara issue because Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon was not present.

So, who is the next in the Turkish premier’s “list”?