US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Turkish leaders on Sunday to speedily restore full diplomatic relations with Israel, two American allies the US sees as anchors of stability in a Middle East wracked by Syria’s civil war, Arab Spring political upheavals and the potential threat posed by Iran’s nuclear programme.
Turkey, however, demanded that Israel end all “embargoes” against the Palestinians first. In Istanbul on the first leg of a 10-day overseas trip, Kerry met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu with the aim of firming up the rapprochement between Turkey and Israel that President Barack Obama kick-started during a visit to the Jewish state last month.
Kerry will later meet with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before travelling on to Israel. “We would like to see this relationship that is important to stability in the Middle East and critical to the peace process ... Get back on track in its full measure,” Kerry told reporters at a joint news conference with Davutoglu. He said that meant promises of “compensation be fulfilled, ambassadors be returned and full relations be embraced.”
The two nations were once close partners, but the relationship plummeted in 2010 after an Israeli raid on a flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip. Eight Turks and a Turkish-American died.
Before leaving Israel two weeks ago, Obama arranged a telephone conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Erdogan.