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Turkey summons Israeli diplomat over deported Turks

Xinhua, June 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

Turkey summoned on Friday the charge d'affaires of the Israeli embassy in Ankara on the backdrop of the deportation of nine Turkish nationals by Israeli authorities.

Ankara expressed unease over the treatment of the Turkish citizens and asked for explanation from the Israeli diplomat, a statement issued by the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

On Thursday, Israel deported nine Turkish citizens, including journalists and activists, after they were held for over six hours at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport.

"We are under detention for six hours at the Ben Gurion Airport with a group of journalists and activists. We were interrogated individually. We were searched for two hours," a journalist among those who were held tweeted.

"We have been banned from entering the country for 10 years," she added.

The deportation came just after Turkish and Israeli officials had a secret meeting in Italy to mend strained ties between the two countries.

Ties between the two countries, once close allies, deteriorated in 2010 when Israeli commandos stormed the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in an aid flotilla for the besieged Gaza Strip.

Nine Turks were killed in the raid and one more died in hospital in 2014 after four years in a coma.

Following the incident, Turkey demoted the level of its diplomatic relations with Israel, recalling its ambassador in Tel Aviv and expelling the Israeli ambassador in Ankara in 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.

U.S. President Barack Obama mediated for a phone call between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in which Netanyahu apologized for the killing of the Turkish civilians during the Mavi Marmara incident.

Both sides worked on formulating a proposal of compensation for the killings of Turks, but the reconciliation process between Turkey and Israel has been stalled since 2014, with Turkish officials suggesting that the ball is on Israeli side to continue the normalization process. Endit