Turkey and Israel Seek to Repair Ties

JERUSALEM — Officials from Israel and Turkey said Friday that their governments were working on an agreement to end the hemorrhaging of their relationship but were stuck on several issues, including whether Israel must apologize — or merely express regret — for the killings of nine Turks during a flotilla raid in May.

“We are trying to get a compromise formula,” Ron Dermer, a close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, said on Israel Radio last week.

The deaths of the nine Turks, one of whom was also an American citizen, occurred aboard a Turkish-sponsored flotilla seeking to break Israel’s embargo of Gaza. Israeli naval commandos boarded the largest of the ships in international waters and, facing violent resistance from dozens of activists, took it by force.

Once Israel’s closest Muslim ally, Turkey, whose government has moderate Islamist leanings, recalled its ambassador from Israel after the flotilla raid and has recently strengthened ties with Syria and Iran.

But a forest fire in Israel’s north a week ago led Mr. Netanyahu to seek international help, and Turkey quickly sent two firefighting planes. Mr. Netanyahu made a point of thanking the Turks, visiting their pilots and reminding them of the help Israel offered Turkey after its 1999 earthquake. Turkish news coverage of the firefighting and of Israel’s warm welcome showed Israel in a far more sympathetic light than usual. The Israelis believed that this might be a moment to improve ties, and Mr. Netanyahu called Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey for their first ever conversation.

“There is a new atmosphere in terms of reconciliation with Israel,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu of Turkey said.

An Israeli official met in Geneva with an official in the Turkish Foreign Ministry and contacts have continued.

Ozdem Sanberk, Turkey’s envoy to the United Nations inquiry into the raid, said, “The importance of the meeting in Geneva was that it showed the willingness of both Israel and Turkey to leave this chapter behind.”

Mr. Erdogan has said publicly that Turkey would not return its ambassador to Israel until Turkey received compensation for the families of the dead and an apology. He has also spoken of the need to end Israel’s embargo of Gaza but has not made that a condition of improved ties.

Israeli officials say that they are willing to pay compensation and express sorrow over what happened, but they have two concerns. They want it spelled out that the commandos who boarded the flotilla were acting in self-defense. And they want whatever deal emerges to end the United Nations inquiry and other international legal actions.

Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting from Istanbul.

via Turkey and Israel Seek to Repair Ties – NYTimes.com.