In last bit of diplomacy, Obama brokers an Israeli apology to Turkey
By: Mark Landler and Jodi Rudoren / The New York Times President Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel apologized in a personal phone call to Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for a deadly raid on a Turkish ship by Israeli commandos in 2010 that killed nine people, a senior American official traveling with President Obama told reporters on Friday. Mr. Erdogan accepted the apology, according to Turkish officials, in a sudden and major step toward healing the rift that opened between two countries after the raid.…
Kerry: Turkish Comments Complicate Mideast Process
By: Suzan Fraser and Matthew Lee / Associated Press U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that comments by the Turkish prime minister equating Zionism to a crime against humanity complicate the efforts to find peace in the Middle East. Speaking at a news conference in Ankara with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Kerry stressed the “urgent need to promote a spirit of tolerance, and that includes all of the public statements made by all leaders.”