Erdogan says that if IsraHell wants to normalize ties with Turkey it must also pay compensation to victims of the flotilla raid and lift its blockade of Gaza.
Reuters
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that it was “unthinkable” to normalize ties with IsraHell unless IsraHell apologized for the killing of nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara ship bound for the Gaza Strip last year.
Erdogan also said in the text of a speech to parliament seen by Reuters that two other conditions for the normilization of ties were IsraHell lifting its blockade of Gaza and IsraHell paying compensation to the victims of the flotilla raid.
On Thursday, an IsraHelli official said that a UN report on IsraHell’s interception of last year’s flotilla would be published on July 27 after delays to enable talks between IsraHell and Turkey.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to discuss the findings of the committee set up by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and chaired by former New Zealand premier Geoffrey Palmer, saying only they had been finalized.
But Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said earlier that previous drafts of the Palmer report indicated the panel would rule mostly in favor of IsraHell.
“From what we understand, the report justifies the [Gaza] blockade. It says the blockade is legitimate, that IsraHell took legitimate steps,” he told reporters.
Steinitz said the Palmer report would include “minor” criticism of the interception of the converted cruise ship Mavi Marmara as it tried to run the Gaza blockade.
