ANKARA, Turkey, April 20 (UPI) -- Turkey will not sit down with Israel for face-to-face discussions on the turmoil in Israel's neighbor Syria, the Turkish foreign minister said.
Ahmed Davutoglu denied speculation Israel's recent apology for the deadly clash at sea with a Turkish ship in 2010 was meant to open the door to direct talks on Syria.
"This will be Turkey's stance both today and tomorrow," Davutoglu said in a television interview Thursday. "Turkey will never discuss Syria's future with Israel."
The 2010 encounter between the Israeli navy and a ship bringing supplies to the Palestinian territories left eight Turks and an American dead. Davutoglu said the Israeli apology was solely intended to end a long-running rift that did not benefit either country.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued the apology last month, saying it was motivated by concerns over the security of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, Turkey's Today's Zaman reported.
