Israel and Turkey move closer to reconciliation, normalized relations

Israel and Turkey are close to normalizing full diplomatic ties, sources in the Prime Minister’s Office said Thursday night, following a high level secret meeting in Switzerland a day earlier to hammer out the reconciliation terms.

 

Incoming Mossad head Yossi Cohen, and Joseph Ciechanover, who has served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s special envoy to Turkey for the past five years, met with Turkish Foreign Ministry director-general Feridun Sinirlioglu to draw up the terms of the agreement that would put an end to the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident that led to a tailspin in diplomatic ties between the two countries, the sources said.

 

Sinirlioglu is a former ambassador to Israel.

 

The agreement comes at a time of increased regional isolation for Turkey, which is in a bitter dispute with Moscow over the downing of one of Russia’s warplanes, is in conflict with most of its neighbors and is coming under international criticism for its troop involvement in Iraq and its trade in Islamic State’s oil.

 

Thursday’s announcement came just three days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – known for his very anti-Israel statements and positions – made his first conciliatory statement toward the Jewish state in years, saying the region needs a normalization of Turkish-Israeli ties, and that this “has a lot to offer to us, to Israel, to Palestine and also to the region.”

 

Read More: Israel and Turkey move closer to reconciliation, normalized relations – Israel News – Jerusalem Post