Turkey, Israel in new bid to overcome crisis

Israel and Turkey have been holding secret talks at several levels to end their diplomatic crisis, Haaretz newspaper reported on Tuesday, quoting a senior Israeli official. The report, for which there was no confirmation, said an official representing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Feridun Sinirlioglu, undersecretary at the Turkish foreign ministry, were involved in the discussions. Talks were also being held between the Israeli and Turkish representatives on a UN panel investigating Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in May 2010 that left nine Turkish nationals dead, the paper said. The two representatives -- Israel's Yosef Ciechanover and Turkey's Ozdem Sanberk -- have been working together on the flotilla inquiry for the past several months. But they have also been onpassing messages to their respective governments and even drafted understandings to end the crisis, according to the Haaretz. "Israel is interested in the restoration of healthy and positive bilateral relations, which are in the interest of both parties," a senior Israeli official told AFP, although he declined to comment on the report. Relations between the once-close allies hit an all-time low after the bloody storming of the flotilla on May 31, 2010 that prompted a bitter exchange of words and Turkey's immediate recall of its ambassador. Officials from both sides tried to patch up the row in December, and Haaretz said they also held a second meeting in April which was not reported. Ties had already been strained over Israel's deadly 22-day campaign in Gaza over New Year 2009 and by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's outbursts against the Jewish state and his defence of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. Turkey and Israel had enjoyed a decade of close ties since 1996 when they signed a military cooperation agreement.