Israel and Turkey have come close to bridging a dispute outstanding
since 2010, when a Turkish flotilla heading to Gaza was attacked by
Israeli forces killing ten Turkish citizens.
Citing an unnamed Israeli source, Reuters suggested on December 17th that Mossad’s incoming Director,
Yossi Cohen, the Israeli envoy,
Joseph Ciechanover,
and the Turkish foreign ministry under-secretary, Feridun Sinirlioglu,
have reached a preliminary agreement during negotiations in Switzerland.
Turkey denies the meeting has taken place.
Under the agreement, Israel will compensate the families of the
victims of the flotilla raid and Turkey in turn will stop providing
refuge to a senior Hamas leader,
Saleh Aruri.
The two countries will also negotiate building a natural gas pipeline
to transfer Israeli natural gas to Turkey, in cooperation with the
Turkish energy conglomerate Zorlu Holding (Zorlu Enerji). President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested on December 13 that the normalization of relations between
Turkey and Israel was good for the entire region. This followed a visit
by Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, concerning the possible
transfer of Israeli energy to Turkey.
Russia is a hard partner to replace when it comes to tourism, as it
accounts for 40% of Turkey’s clients. However, the collapse of
Russo-Turkish relations is bringing Israel closer to Turkey.
http://neurope.eu/article/the-collapse-of-russo-turkish-relations-draw-ankara-closer-to-tel-aviv/