Turkish PM says Israeli elections "painted a very dark picture"

"Unfortunately we have seen that the (Israeli) people have voted for these (rightist) parties and that makes me a bit sad," Erdogan told Reuters and two Turkish newspapers in an interview. "Unfortunately the election has painted a very dark picture."

Israel's centrist Kadima's leader Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni slightly won the elections but unlikely to form a government as the rightist parties boosted their chairs in the parliament.

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Israel faces what could be weeks of political uncertainty after the elections, dealing a further blow to the peace efforts.

Erdogan urged the next Israeli government to look at how it conducted policies and actions towards the Palestinians and to lift what he called an embargo on the Palestinians, adding Israel's tough stance against the Palestinians was failing, Reuters reported.

"With the ceasefire the embargo should be lifted. The Palestinian people should be freed from an open-air prison they are living in right now, this is against human rights," he was quoted as saying by the news agency.

Erdogan sounded upbeat on Turkey's role as a peace mediator in the Middle East despite the Israeli media reports suggesting Israel is not willing to take part in any mediation involving Ankara after the prime minister's outburst in Davos.

The Turkish prime minister did not agree with the views that Turkey's role as a mediator in the Middle East, and in particular as a neutral negotiator between Israel and Syria, suffered short-term damage because of Erdogan's fierce criticism of Israel and defense of Hamas.

"We were not the ones who wanted this negotiations role. In negotiations between Syria and Israel both countries wanted Turkey to be the mediator, that is why we took part in it. The same happened with the Israeli and Pakistani talks," Reuters reported.

He said critics misunderstood Turkish foreign policy if they thought the government was siding with Hamas or was against Israel. Turkey wanted peace in the region and was defending the helpless, in this case the civilians in Gaza, he said.

EXPECTED PHONE CALL WITH OBAMA

In a phone call expected soon with U.S. President Barack Obama, Erdogan said he would urge him to take a different approach to the Middle East than the Bush administration, the news agency reported.

"I am expecting President Obama to be the voice of the voiceless and the protector of the unprotected," he was quoted as saying.

Erdogan again defended his criticism of Israeli authorities. "We have to distinguish between two things -- the Israeli people and the Israeli government. I say the same to my people. I see anti-Semitism as a crime against humanity," Erdogan said.

"I have also said that while anti-Semitism is a crime against humanity, Islamophobia is also a crime against humanity. I have said that the Jewish people should take part in fighting this kind of prejudice," he said, according to Reuters.