- Title: TURKEY: Turkey reiterates demands for amends from Israel
- Date: 2nd July 2010
- Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (NOVEMBER 23, 2009) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** WIDE OF TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER AHMET DAVUTOGLU MEETING ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER BEN-ELIEZER CLOSE OF DAVUTOGLU SHAKING HANDS WITH ELIEZER DAVUTOGLU AND ELIEZER LEAVING
- Embargoed: 17th July 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Turkey
- Country: Turkey
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVABWXHC1QO37Q0Q812SOBJZUHG3
- Story Text: Turkey says it has has told Israel at face-to-face talks what it must do to mend ties damaged after Israeli commandos stormed a Gaza aid ship nearly a month ago.
Turkey told Israel what it should do to mend ties damaged when Israeli commandos stormed a Gaza-bound aid ship, during secret talks in Brussels, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday (July 1).
Confirming his meeting with Israeli Trade and Industry Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reiterated that Ankara's demands for Israel to make amends remained the same.
"In the light of recent developments, after the note we have conveyed to Israel, Israeli Trade Minister Ben-Eliezer requested to meet us as a special envoy of Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu and we have met. It was the right thing to do. We have met them to convey our demands directly, face-to-face," Davutoglu said in parliament.
Wednesday's talks marked a first face-to-face meeting between senior officials since a crisis over the pre-dawn raid erupted over a month ago.
Once Israel's closest Muslim ally, Turkey has said it wants Israel to apologise, pay compensation, agree to a U.N. inquiry into the incident and lift the blockade of 1.6 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's Trade Minister is known as a friend of Turkey, encouraging good ties with the Muslim country. He was the first minister to visit Turkey last year, after relations between the two countries became strained over Israel's Gaza policies.
Nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists were killed when Israeli commandos stormed the Turkish-flagged ship Mavi Marmara on May 31 as part of an operation to stop a relief aid flotilla headed for Israeli-blockaded Gaza.
Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Israel, cancelled joint military operations and barred Israeli military aircraft from Turkish airspace after the incident.
The United States wants Israel and Turkey, whose earlier friendship had benefited U.S. policy in the Middle East, to patch up the dispute.
President Barack Obama met Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in Toronto on Sunday and is due to meet Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on July 6.
Israel has opened its own inquiry into what happened when its marines stormed the Mavi Marmara, but has maintained that they opened fire only after a boarding party was attacked by activists wielding clubs and knives.
Israel says the Gaza blockade is needed to choke off the supply of arms to Hamas Islamists who rule the enclave.
The U.N. Security Council and a host of Muslim countries condemned the Israeli action.
Relations between Israel and Turkey have been on a downward spiral since Prime Minister Erdogan spoke out forcefully against an Israeli offensive in Gaza at the end of 2008.
The two countries had forged a friendship in the 1990s largely based on military cooperation and intelligence sharing, though trade also prospered. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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