ISTANBUL: Turkey cut off all diplomatic relations with Israel on Friday after a damning report issued by the United Nations put blame on the Jewish state for a raid on a peaceful vessel to Gaza last year left 9 Turkish activists dead. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that Israel's presence in Turkey was to be cut to second secretary level, meaning the ambassador would be expelled. “Turkey-Israel diplomatic relations have been reduced to a second secretary level. All personnel above the second secretary level will return to their countries by Wednesday at the latest,” Davutoglu told a news conference. Israel's ambassador Gabby Levy was currently in Israel and cancelled plans to return to Turkey on Thursday. A long-awaited UN report on the raid, made public on Thursday, declared that Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip was legal, but that the Jewish state used unreasonable force. In Istanbul, Turkish activists were pleased with the move, but demanded their country do more to buttress Palestinians in the face of what they called Israeli aggression. “The constant killing and war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank must end and it must end now,” said Hussein Aslin, a university student in Istanbul. “Turkey has a unique position between the Middle Eas and Europe, so we must do more to show our support for those who struggle daily to find ways to survive.” BM
