Is Turkish-Israeli reconciliation back on track?
The shifting regional picture may be forcing Israel and Turkey to rebuild ties, but only after Turkey’s elections on March 30.
Following a lull of several weeks, the Turkish-Israeli reconciliation story is back in the news following some new developments and high-level statements. Some suggest that events in Syria in particular and the Middle East in general are acting as a catalyst for the process.
It is seems prudent, however, to keep a pinch of salt around, as this story has seen more than one false start since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s surprise apology last year for the 2010 raid by Israel commandos on the Turkish aid ship Mavi Marmara as it headed for Gaza. Nine Turks were killed in the raid, sending Turkish-Israeli ties into a nosedive from which they have not yet recovered.
Citing unidentified officials, the Turkish and Israeli press reported in February that the two countries were close to signing a compensation deal for those killed, a step that would be a precursor to normalizing diplomatic ties.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, put a damper on these reports when he came out demanding that Israel lift the siege on Gaza before ties with Israel revert to what they once were, a demand that Turkish diplomats acknowledged privately was unlikely to be met.
