Turkey Ready To Renew Ties With Israel if Palestinian Rights Respected

Israel will have to “respect the international law on the Palestinian issue for a sustainable relationship,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told Israeli reporters in Ankara on Wednesday. “We are seeking to establish a sustainable relationship,” Çavuşoğlu added. The two countries could greatly benefit from cooperation on energy, he said, as well as in areas including trade, investment, science and technology, agriculture, and food security. He also said that relations between Israel and Turkey have foundered over “violations of Palestinian rights” by Israel, rather than bilateral violations, according to Haaretz. Ties between Turkey and Israel – once close regional allies – reached their nadir after the death of 10 civilians in an Israeli raid on a blockade-busting Turkish flotilla carrying aid for the Gaza Strip in 2010. Relations broke down again in 2018, after Turkey, enraged by the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem, once again recalled its ambassador from Israel, prompting Israel to also recall its envoy. Çavuşoğlu is scheduled to visit Israel in mid-May; his visit comes on the heels of a visit to Ankara last month by Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, the first Israeli leader to visit the country since 2008. The Israeli reporters were in Turkey on a press visit organized and funded by the Turkish president’s office.