Turkey to warm up its relations with Israel: President Erdogan
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ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signaled a possible warming of relations with Israel, saying in comments published Monday that the entire region would benefit from the normalization of ties. Relations between former allies Turkey and Israel broke down in 2010 after an Israeli naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that killed eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American. In the aftermath of the raid, Turkey became one of the strongest critics of Israeli actions in Gaza. Erdogan told a group of journalists during a flight back from a trip to Turkmenistan that “normalization with Israel” was possible if the sides can finalize a compensation deal for the raid’s victims and if Israel lifts a blockade against Palestinians. “We had three (conditions); an apology - which happened; compensation - which did not happen, and the lifting of the embargo on Palestine,” Yeni Safak quoted Erdogan as saying. “If the compensation issue and the lifting of the embargo are achieved then we can enter a process of normalization.”(Haaretz)
