{"id":35886,"date":"2013-03-23T13:09:01","date_gmt":"2013-03-23T11:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/?p=35886"},"modified":"2013-03-23T13:11:03","modified_gmt":"2013-03-23T11:11:03","slug":"israel-turkeypm-netanyahu-apologizes-to-turkey-for-gaza-flotilla-attack-middle-east-news-35886","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/israel-turkeypm-netanyahu-apologizes-to-turkey-for-gaza-flotilla-attack-middle-east-news-35886\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel – Turkey:PM Netanyahu apologizes to Turkey for Gaza flotilla attack \/ Middle East News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Turkey-Israel-PM-Netanyahu-Apology-flotilla\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized to Turkish PM Erdogan for deaths in the Gaza flotilla attack, Israel\u00a0agrees to compensation.<\/h1>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the restoration of normal diplomatic relations with Turkey and expressed regret during a phone call with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.<\/p>\n

US President Barack Obama helped arrange the call shortly before leaving Israel.<\/p>\n

In a statement released by the White House, President Barack Obama said: “The United States deeply values our close partnerships with both Turkey and Israel, and we attach great importance to the restoration of positive relations between them in order to advance regional peace and security.<\/p>\n

“I am hopeful that today’s exchange between the two leaders will enable them to engage in deeper cooperation on this and a range of other challenges and opportunities,” he added.<\/p>\n

The flotilla incident severely harmed ties between the once-close allies. Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Israel, and diplomatic ties and military cooperation were greatly scaled back.<\/p>\n

Israel – Turkey:First contact between two countries since 2010<\/h2>\n

\"FILES-ISRAEL-CONFLICT-GAZA-UN-RIGHTS\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In their first phone conversation since 2010, the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized to Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan for deaths in the Gaza flotilla raid, Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s office said. Israel also agreed to compensation for bereaved families.<\/p>\n

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan accepted the apology and agreed with his Israeli counterpart on the need to normalize the relationship that deteriorated after the UN report in 2011 made public the storming of a Turkish aid flotilla.<\/p>\n

As back then no apology followed from Israel, Ankara expelled its ambassador and froze military cooperation with the country.<\/p>\n

During Friday\u2019s call, Netanyahu and Erdogan \u201cagreed to restore normalization between Israel and Turkey, including the dispatch of ambassadors and the cancellation of legal steps against IDF soldiers,\u201d Ofir Gendelman, the Israeli PM\u2019s spokesperson said in statement.<\/p>\n

Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara was on its way from Turkey to the Gaza Strip when it was intercepted by the Israeli Navy in May 2010. The vessel was part of a flotilla that was attempting to break an Israeli naval blockade of Palestinian territory \u00a0Gaza. As a result of the incident, nine Turkish activists aboard the vessel were killed.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu said today that those tragic results\u00a0\u201cwere unintentional and that Israel expresses regret over injuries and loss of life,\u201d his press-service sated. An Israeli investigation into the incident pointed out several operational errors and Netanyahu apologized to the Turkish people for any mistakes that could have led to loss of life. He also agreed \u201cto complete the agreement on compensation,\u201d said Gendelman.<\/p>\n

Besides that, the Israeli Prime Minister noted that his country has already lifted several restrictions on the movement of civilians and goods to all of the Palestinian territories, including Gaza. This will continue \u201cas long as the quiet is maintained,\u201d his spokesperson cited. Netanyahu and Erdogan agreed to keep working to improve the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n

Erdogan, for his part, underlined to his Israeli counterpart that he\u00a0\u201cvalued centuries-long strong friendship and cooperation\u201d\u00a0between the two nations, his office said, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said later that all Ankara\u2019s fundamental demands have been met by Israel\u2019s apology.<\/p>\n\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized to Turkish PM Erdogan for deaths in the Gaza flotilla raid, Israel agrees to compensation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":702,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,63,1,118,37,101,171,174,194,173,188,14],"tags":[48412,20815,46960,267,48409,48411,34359,874,48413,77159,270,48410,48414,77182,15315,2614],"class_list":["post-35886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-daily","category-general","category-hot","category-middle-east","category-politics","category-turkey","category-turkey-daily","category-turkey-general","category-turkey-headlines","category-turkey-politics","category-world","tag-benjamin-netanyahu-apologizes","tag-conflict","tag-erdogan-netanyahu","tag-israel","tag-israel-apologizes-turkey","tag-israel-gaza-flottila-attack","tag-israel-pm-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-israel-turkey","tag-israeli-pm-benjamin-netanyahu-apologizes","tag-middle-east","tag-netanyahu","tag-netanyahu-apologizes-turkey","tag-obama-netanyahu-erdogan","tag-turkey","tag-turkish-pm-erdogan","tag-us-president-obama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/702"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35886\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalturk.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}