Turkey-Israel ties await 'normalization'
For now, both Turkey and Israel may prefer the status quo.
Nine months have elapsed since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swallowed his pride and called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, under pressure from US President Barack Obama, to apologize for the Mavi Marmara raid in 2010, hoping this would help normalize ties with Turkey. That is yet to happen, however. Ankara’s resetting of its policies in the Middle East, in an attempt to regain lost influence in the region, does not appear to cover Israel yet.
Netanyahu’s apology, which had caught Ankara off guard, was considered a major concession for a politician known to be no less abrasive and stubborn than Erdogan. Relying on this breakthrough, diplomats believed Turkey would have to respond in kind, its principal demand over the Mavi Marmara incident having been met.
Turkey had also demanded compensation, which Netanyahu said would be paid. A third demand, which Ankara has been heating up or cooling down according to its needs, is the lifting of the siege on the Gaza Strip.
Many felt Erdogan would use the apology to open a new page with Israel for pragmatic reasons, if nothing else, given the growing need for stability in the Middle East. The statement issued simultaneously by both countries on March 22 following the phone conversation between Erdogan and Netanyahu was also encouraging.
