Turkey Cuts Ties with Israel, Expels its Ambassador

Turkey announces it has expelled Israel's ambassador and suspends all military agreements with the country over the country's refusal to apologize for the Gaza flotilla raid.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey was reducing diplomatic ties to the level of second secretary and the ambassador would leave Turkey by Wednesday. "It is time Israel pays a price," the Guardian quoted him as saying.

Turkey's decision came after the UN declared that Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip was a "legitimate security measure" and criticized Israel's attack on flotilla ships in a very soft tone, using words like "unreasonable" to describe the violent attack. Turkey announced UN report was unacceptable.

Meanwhile Israel says it tries to mend broken ties with the Turkish government and people, but insisted it will not apologize for the deaths of nine Turkish activists calling the attack an act of self-defense.

"The flotilla was a blatant attempt to break through the naval siege on Gaza. The Palmer Report ratifies the legality of the naval siege and Israel's right to enforce it," Ha'aretz quoted a senior source in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office as saying.