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Turkey, Israel seek resumption of reconciliation talks

Xinhua, June 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed on Wednesday it was holding meetings with Israel to resume reconciliation talks to restore the deteriorated bilateral ties, local Hurriyet Daily News reported.

"Talks between Turkey and Israel are very normal for the sake of the normalization of relations. How can reconciliation be achieved without holding any meetings?" Cavusoglu told reporters in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

"The ball is in Israel's court" in regard to the normalization of bilateral ties since Ankara is still waiting for the fulfillment of its conditions for normalization, Cavusoglu said.

Cavusoglu's remarks came a day after Israel's media reported that Israeli Foreign Minister Director General Dore Gold and Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu had held secret talks in Rome on Monday in a bid to reconcile the two former allies.

Ties between the two countries, once close, deteriorated in 2010 when Israeli commandos raided the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in an aid flotilla which tried to break the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Nine Turks died in the incident and one more died in hospital after four years in a coma.

Following the assault, the two countries demoted the level of their diplomatic relations, as Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador in Ankara on September 2011.

The relations have also suffered blows due to Israel's operations in the Gaza Strip in recent years, which have been strongly denounced by Turkey.

During U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Israel in March 2013, and supposedly upon his request, Netanyahu called then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and apologized for the killing of the Turkish civilians during the Mavi Marmara incident.

Since the phone call, diplomats of the two sides have held meetings in both Jerusalem and Ankara on the process of reconciliation talks, and made an apparent breakthrough in December 2013.

According to Turkish media outlets, the breakthrough was achieved after agreements were reached on the sum of Israeli compensations (20 million U.S. dollars) to the families of the victims.

Another advancement was noted in February 2014 when the Turkish parliament agreed to forego any lawsuit against the Israeli soldiers who took over the flotilla.

Both sides worked on formulating a proposal to complete normalization of the two countries' ties in the early months of 2014, which still awaits the approval of the Israeli and the Turkish leaders. Endit