Turkey and Zionist entity have shown a "firm willingness" to make amends in the diplomatic row over Zionist troops storming a Gaza-bound ship, killing nine Turks.
Turkey and Zionist entity have shown a "firm willingness" to make amends in the diplomatic row over Zionist troops storming a Gaza-bound ship, killing nine Turks, a Turkish diplomat said Tuesday.
The Mavi Marmara was leading a flotilla to the Palestinian territory, subject of an Israeli-imposed blockade, in May last year when an intervention by IOF ended in bloodshed.
Following the raid, Turkey withdrew its ambassador to Tel-Aviv, vowing that bilateral relations "would never be the same."
Recent gestures have raised the prospect of improved relations however, with Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sending his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulations following his party's victory in the June 12 elections.
"The discussions are continuing. There is a firm willingness to find a solution between the two countries in order to put the affair behind them," said Ozdem Sanberk, the Turkish representative on the UN committee looking into the Gaza flotilla incident.
"The two parties have been making genuine efforts."
The diplomat said it was not possible to say at what stage the discussions were in terms of Turkey's demands, namely, an apology from ‘Israel’ and compensation for the families of those killed.
"I think that we had lost trust between one another over the last few years. Now we need to stop playing this mutual blame game on the reasons for the loss of trust," Danny Ayalon, Zionist deputy foreign minister, told the Turkish Daily News on Friday.
"The cancellation of the Mavi Marmara's departure is a chance for us to strengthen our ties. We need to meet and tackle all the issues," said the minister who last year humiliated a Turkish envoy when he forced him to sit on a much lower seat than him during a televised meeting.
Zionist entity is gearing up to block the arrival of a new aid flotilla which is planning to set sail to Gaza from Greece later this week.
IOF imposed a blockade on the enclave in 2006 after the Zionist soldier Gilad Shalit had been kidnapped. He is still being held.
