NICOSIA, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman demanded Wednesday that Turkey should also show respect for Israel following a diplomatic row with Ankara over an obvious humiliation of the Turkish ambassador.

    After talks with Lieberman's Cypriot counterpart Marcos Kyprianou in Nicosia, he said Israel respects Turkey and its people.

    "That is exactly what we expect in return, to treat us with dignity and respect," Lieberman said, "We will not tolerate any anti-Semitic positions and fomenting of hatred against the Jews and the Israeli state."

    Lieberman's statement came a few hours after a statement by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon in Jerusalem said that his behavior of making Turkish Ambassador Celikkol sit on a low couch and removing the Turkish flag from the table during a meeting earlier this week had been inappropriate.

    However, Ankara still demanded a formal apology Wednesday, otherwise Turkey threatened to recall their envoy the following morning.

    Ayalon on Monday expressed Israel's discontentment to Celikkol over a recent Turkish TV drama that portrayed Israeli intelligence agents as baby kidnappers.

    Lieberman, who is paying a two-day visit to Cyprus, said "any issues or questions that Turkey may have can be raised by dialogue, direct dialogue."