An Israeli minister has accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of blocking a compensation agreement for those killed in a fatal attack by Israeli forces on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010.
Relations between the Israeli regime and Turkey soured in 2010, when Israeli commandos attacked the first Freedom Flotilla in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, killing nine Turkish activists on board the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara and injuring about 50 other people who were part of the team on the six-ship convoy.
The two sides have been engaged in talks over compensation since March 2013. Officials on both sides recently confirmed that they were close to an agreement.
However, on February 11, the Turkish premier said no agreement could be cut without a written commitment by Israel to lift its restrictions on the besieged Gaza Strip.
In reaction to Erdogan’s comments, Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz told public radio on Thursday, “I am in favor of an agreement with Turkey, but (the current impasse) is Erdogan’s fault.”
The development comes as on February 10, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said his country and Israel were the closest they have been to a normalization of ties since the deadly Israeli raid on the flotilla.
“There has recently been momentum and a new approach in compensation talks,” Davutoglu told a local television station.
Gaza has been blockaded since June 2007, which is a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.
The apartheid regime of Israel denies about 1.7 million people in Gaza their basic rights such as freedom of movement, jobs that pay proper wages, and adequate healthcare and education.
MR/NN/HMV
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