Cuando volvió el Mavi Marmara

Turkey and Israel: Slow moves to reconstruct broken ties

Photo: Atlantic Council. ACUS.ORG. Turkish Foreign Minister

Lucas Farioli / Istanbul

"A new era has started in Turkey-Israel relations after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent two aircrafts to Israel to join efforts to extinguish a major forest fire in Haifa," Turkey new agency Anadolu reported Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu saying this during a press conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem in Ankara.
Turkey-Israel relations between once close allies have deteriorated in recent years and have reached the lowest point last 31st May when nine Turkish citizens were killed when Israeli naval commandos attacked in international waters a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
Following Turkey's decision to send the aircraft, Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to end the diplomatic crisis with Ankara sent the Israeli representative on the United Nations committee investigating the Gaza flotilla incident, Yosef Ciechanover, to Geneva in order to meet with Feridun Sinirlioglu, an undersecretary at the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Israeli diplomats have said that the initial proposal made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's envoy included an expression of "regret" over the killings of the activists and agreement to compensate the families of the nine Turkish citizen shot during the attack offering around 100.000 dollars for each of them, Reuters informed.
In return, Israel wants Turkey to assure indemnify for Israeli military personal involved in the killings against lawsuits in international forums, and to normalize ties with steps like a new exchange of ambassadors.
In this respect Davotoglu also clarified that “The reports regarding the developments are speculative. Talks are continuing,” at a joint press conference in Ankara Turkish paper Hürriyet reported.