Turkey said Wednesday that reaching a deal to normalize relations with Israel downgraded after a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish vessel depended on steps taken by the Jewish state.
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey had made its demands crystal clear ahead of upcoming talks — while insisting that Ankara’s relationship with Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which rules Gaza, was not a condition in the talks.
Two of Turkey’s key conditions for normalization — an apology for the deadly 2010 raid and compensation — were largely met, leaving its third demand, that Israel lift its blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, as the main obstacle.
“Whether a deal can be reached at the first upcoming meeting depends on the steps to be taken by Israel,” Cavusoglu told a news conference in Ankara. “Our conditions are not very complicated, they are plain conditions,” Cavusoglu said. “They need to be fulfilled the same as our apology demand.”
He did not give the date of the meeting although press reports have said it would take place on Sunday and be followed by an announcement on the normalization of ties.
The Hurriyet newspaper reported on Tuesday that the announcement for a deal would be made after talks between top Turkish foreign ministry official Feridun Sinirlioglu and Israel’s pointman on Turkish relations, Joseph Ciechanover.
It did not say where the talks would be held. Israeli daily Yedioth Aharonot reported on Wednesday that the next round of talks would be held in Turkey and an announcement made there.

Source: Arab News