ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has refused to deny or confirm reports that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had dispatched a representative to meet with one of the ministry’s undersecretaries to draft an agreement to end the Turkish-Israeli diplomatic crisis.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported over the weekend that Netanyahu sent the representative to the U.N. committee investigating the Gaza flotilla incident after Turkey sent assistance to help Israel put out a fire in the Carmel Mountains near Haifa last week. Quoting a senior Israeli source, the newspaper said the two representatives, Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu and Yosef Ciechanover from Israel, were expected to meet and draw up a draft agreement to put an end to the crisis.
A spokesman from the Turkish Foreign Ministry contacted by the Daily News, however, said he could neither confirm nor deny the claim by Haaretz.
The relationship between Turkey and Israel was dealt a serious blow in May when Israeli commandoes raided a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship and left nine Turks dead. Turkey has said relations will not return to normal until Israel extends an apology and pays compensation to the victims’ families.
The Carmel fire is Israel’s worst forest fire ever and prompted Turkey to send two firefighting planes and a team of firefighters to help extinguish the flames. The action has broken the ice between the two rival leaders, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Israeli counterpart Netanyahu, who made the first contact after months of tensions when he called the Turkish prime minister to extend his country’s thanks.
But Erdoğan said Friday that despite the fire aid and his telephone conversation with Netanyahu, Turkey’s expectations from Tel Aviv remain the same. He reiterated that Turkey expects an apology for the flotilla incident and compensation for the victims. “We don’t confuse this issue with other issues,” he said.
Haaretz quoted sources at the Israeli Prime Minister’s Bureau as saying that contacts were being made with Turkey on the issue, without elaborating further.
The fire diplomacy sparked hope for improvement in the chilly relations between Turkey and Israel. During their telephone conversation, Netanyahu told Erdoğan, “I am sure this event can be a gateway to an improvement of relations between our countries,” diplomatic sources told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
The fire diplomacy recalls the “earthquake diplomacy” that helped revive Turkish-Greek ties after the 1999 Marmara earthquake, which killed nearly 17,000 people. Neighboring Greece was one of the first countries to extend a helping hand to Turkish victims. Israeli rescue teams also rushed to Turkey’s aid.
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