Turkey's Erdogan condoles over Israelis killed in Isranbul terror attack

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday to condole with him over the deaths of three Israelis in an Istanbul terror attack on Saturday, the Israeli presidency said.

This is the first time in three years that Erdogan has spoken directly with an Israeli official, amid a tumultuous relation between the countries since 2010.

Erdogan told Rivlin that the countries "have to stand together with the international community and take a very firm stance, increasing our cooperation against all terrorist acts," according to a statement from Rivlin's office.

The Israeli president echoed Erdogan's sentiment, saying that "terror is terror" whether it is in "Istanbul, Brussels, Paris in Jerusalem."

Saturday's attack in Istanbul claimed four lives, the attacks in Brussels left more than 30 people dead, and the six-month ongoing wave of violence in Israel killed 28 Israelis and nearly 190 Palestinians.

Rivlin added the countries must "stand together" along with other countries in their battle against terrorism.

Erdogan also offered his condolences to the families of the victims and a speedy recovery to the 11 Israelis who were injured in the Istanbul bombing attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel and Turkish authorities are working together to discover whether the attack was aimed at Israelis or not.

The cooperation on the matter comes despite the fact that relations between the two countries have been on the rocks since 2009, after a nine Turkish people who boarded a flotilla to the Gaza Strip were killed in a clash with Israeli soldiers.

The ties between the two countries, close prior to the incident, have deteriorated since, and also suffered due to Israel's rounds of fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Turkey sustains ties with Hamas and expresses solidarity with Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation.

The last contact between Erdogan and an Israeli president was in 2009, when Erdogan walked off the stage at Davos when then Israeli President Shimon Peres entered, calling him a killer amid Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip of that year.

In 2013, Netanyahu called Erdogan to apologize over the deadly clashes between the Turkish activists and Israeli soldiers, at the encouragement of U.S. President Barack Obama.

Since then, Israeli and Turkish delegates have been holding meetings in order to reach a reconciliation pact, which would include a substantial amount of financial compensation for the families of the Turkish victims.

In December, Israeli media outlets reported that Israel and Turkey are getting closer to normalizing relations between them, after parties reached understandings in secret talks in Switzerland.

Among the reported understandings, Turkey and its citizens will forego lawsuits against Israeli soldiers, and Israel would set up a fund to compensate the victims of the incident. Furthermore, Turkey would allow Israel to place a natural gas pipeline on its turf and will embark on discussions to purchase the gas from Israel, the Channel 10 news reported.

Also in December, Erdogan was quoted by Turkish media outlets as saying that normalizing ties between the countries would benefit the region.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in response that Israel "has always sought stable relations with Turkey and is constantly examining ways to achieve them." Enditem