Talks with Israel ongoing to meet Turkish conditions, says FM

NEW YORK

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday that negotiations were ongoing with Israel for the fulfilment of the two remaining conditions announced by Turkey to normalize relations between the two countries.

"One of our conditions has been met. There are ongoing talks at expert level to fulfil the other two," Cavusoglu told reporters in New York. He was in the city to attend Friday's international talks on Syria.

"We will all see how the talks will be concluded ... These negotiations must continue," Cavusoglu added.

The recent talks to normalize relations came more than five years after Israeli troops stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in international waters, leaving nine Turkish citizens dead and 30 others injured, including one person who died nearly four years after being critically injured in the attack.

Turkey had requested an apology from Israel, compensation for the families of those killed in the attack as well as the removal of Israel’s blockade on Gaza.

The first of these conditions was fulfilled in 2013 when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the attack.

However, the two countries had not resolved whether compensation should be paid to the families of the victims.