Davutoglu: "To avoid a break in ties, Israel must apologize or else agree to intl probe"

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Saturday made clear that if Israel wants to prevent a complete break in ties with Turkey, it has exactly two options: One is offering an official apology to Turkey over its commandos killing nine Turks on an aid ship in international waters during a deadly May 31 raid, and the other is consenting to an international investigation into the raid. "As long as Israel doesn't apologize, there is no possibility of relations recovering," he told reporters while returning to Turkey from Kyrgyzstan, where he attended the inauguration of President Roza Otunbayeva. "They listened to our demands and said they would convey them to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu," he said, referring to his meeting last week in Brussels with Israeli Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. "We haven't set a deadline for the response. We're waiting. If it (Israel) doesn't apologize, then it should accept an international commission and accede to its findings." He added, "There are three options ahead: it will either apologize, or it will consent to a study by an international commission, or relations will be broken off."