Thursday, July 07, 2011

sometimes countries act like children

from the NYT:
But he also said that Turkey stood by its demands for an apology and compensation for the victims of the Israeli raid.

“It is as natural as breathing air that a country would apologize and offer compensation to victims’ relatives if it barges into an unarmed ship sailing in high waters and causes the death of nine people,” Mr. Sanberk said. “That’s the precondition for the normalization of bilateral relations that Turkey expects.”

...

Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, asserted Wednesday that Israel should not apologize, warning that an apology would “harm Israel’s national dignity” and humiliate its soldiers, the Turkish newspaper Zaman reported.

Diplomats said Wednesday that the two sides had been searching for a word that would sound like an apology in Turkish, but not in Hebrew.