Turkey, Israel recall ambassadors as tensions mount

ANKARA -  Turkey has told the Israeli consul general in Istanbul to leave the country temporarily, state media said Wedneday, the latest in a series of tit-for-tat expulsions in a growing crisis over Israel's killing of Palestinians on the Gaza border.

The Turkish foreign ministry has told the consul to leave Turkey "for a period of time", the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Turkey had already withdrawn its ambassador in Tel Aviv for consultations and told Israel's ambassador to Ankara to leave, while Israel ordered the Turkish consul in Jerusalem to leave, also for an unspecified period of time.

Israel's foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned the Turkish charge d'affaires in Israel to its Jerusalem headquarters for a reprimand over what it called in a statement "inappropriate treatment" of Israeli ambassador Eitan Naeh as he departed Istanbul airport.

The statement said that Naeh was subjected to "a stringent security check in the pre-arranged presence of the Turkish media."

The Israeli statement invited local news teams to film Turkish charge d'affaires Umut Deniz when he arrives at the foreign ministry later in the afternoon.

The row, which on Tuesday saw President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu exchange bitter jibes on Twitter, threatens a 2016 deal on normalising ties after a long-running crisis.

Turkey has expressed outrage over the killing by Israeli forces on Monday of 60 Palestinians during protests and clashes on the Gaza border and also blamed tensions on the US decision to move its embassy for Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Erdogan will on Friday host an emergency summit meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul which he has said will send a "strong message to the world" on the issue.

- 'History won't forgive' -

The 2016 reconciliation deal ended a dispute over the May 2010 deadly storming of a Turkish ship by Israeli commandos that saw relations downgraded.

That deal was strongly backed by the United States, which was keen to see Israel make up with one of its few key Muslim partners.

But Erdogan, who regards himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause, has never shied away from criticism of Israel even as ministers pressed energy cooperation between the two sides.

Erdogan this week has accused Israel of "genocide" and told Netanyahu he is leading an "apartheid state" while having the "blood of Palestinians" on his hands.

Netanyahu meanwhile told Erdogan that as a leading supporter of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas "there's no doubt he's an expert on terror and slaughter".

In a tweet titled "Reminder to Netanyahu", Erdogan then denied that Hamas is a terror group, saying it is a "resistance movement that defends the Palestinian homeland against an occupying power".

After talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday, Erdogan warned that history "will not forgive" Israel or the United States for moving the American embassy to Jerusalem in defiance of the Islamic world.

The Turkish presidency's official website said that before leaving London Erdogan met a delegation of ultra-orthodox Jews from anti-Zionist group Neturei Karta.

It is a very small splinter group on the margins of ultra-Orthodox Jewry with members in Israel and abroad.

They oppose the existence of a Jewish state before the coming of the Messiah.

- 'Islamic summit Friday' -

While Turkey under Erdogan has never completely severed ties with Israel, the Turkish strongman has also never shied away from the strongest criticism.

He famously walked out of a January 2009 debate in Davos with then Israeli president Shimon Peres, complaining he was not given enough time to respond and repeatedly saying "one minute".

Turkey on Tuesday began observing three days national mourning declared by Erdogan for the Palestinian dead, with flags flying at half mast and cultural events cancelled.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had earlier urged Islamic countries to review their ties with Israel and said Ankara was calling an extraordinary summit of the world's main pan-Islamic body, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), on Friday.

"The Islamic world should move as one, with one voice, against this massacre," he added.

In a possible bid to rally support for the summit, Erdogan spoke by telephone to Jordan's King Abdullah and Malaysia's 92-year-old new leader Mahathir Mohamad.

- 'Stop the Oppression' -

Erdogan regards himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause and last year hosted an OIC summit in Istanbul to denounce US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The summit declared East Jerusalem -- which the international community regards as annexed by Israel -- "as the capital of the State of Palestine" and urged the world to follow suit.

Yildirim said after Friday's summit a giant rally would be held at the vast Yenikapi meeting area in Istanbul under the slogan of "Stop the Oppression" to express solidarity with the Palestinians.

Hundreds of people also held protests in Istanbul and Ankara against Israel's actions with slogans including "Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine".

The demonstrations in Turkey passed off peacefully, although one man was arrested in Ankara for throwing eggs and stones at the residence of the Israeli ambassador.