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Trade, security concerns bring Turkey, Israel closer

Turkish-Israeli relations are still far from normalized, but developments in the region are converging the two countries' security and economic interests.
Iron rods ready for shipment are piled at Israel Shipyards Port in Haifa February 5, 2014. Three years after Syria plunged into violence, Israel is reaping an unlikely economic benefit. Exports from Turkey have begun to flow through Israel and across the Sheikh Hussein Bridge to Jordan and a few Arab neighbours. The trade is growing enough to encourage long-held Israeli hopes that the Jewish state can become a commercial gateway to the Arab world. Picture taken February 5, 2014. To match Insight ISRAEL-TRAD
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The long awaited normalization of ties between Israel and Turkey has yet to occur, despite remarks by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in May that the problems between them have largely been overcome. At first glance, little appears to have changed since then.

However, developments in Syria and particularly in Iraq are producing an increasing convergence of security interests between Turkey and Israel, while economic relations, especially in the energy field, continue to develop, with bilateral trade — which continued even when political ties hit rock bottom — registering new records.

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