Netanyahu, Biden talk Turkey-Israel rapprochement

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Friday with Vice President Joe Biden about ongoing efforts to reach a detente between Israel and Turkey, the White House said.

According to a statement by Biden’s office, the two discussed “ongoing efforts to improve Israel-Turkey relations and advance energy cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean.”

The chat was a follow up to a similar conversation the two had on the sidelines of this month’s World Economic Forum summit in Davos, Switzerland.

Relations between Ankara and Jerusalem have been frosty for nearly a decade and almost broke down entirely after the 2010 Israeli naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that killed 10 Turkish citizens. Despite an apology by Netanyahu in 2013, efforts to end the standoff have repeatedly failed, though in recent weeks there have been increasing signs that a rapprochement is in the offing.

In December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told journalists that “normalization with Israel” was possible, but Israel issued a lukewarm reaction to the overture. “The ball is in Turkey’s court,” a senior official in Jerusalem reportedly said.

Biden also spoke Friday to Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. The White House says Biden updated Anastasiades on his talks with Turkish officials about resolving the long-running dispute over Cyprus.

The two leaders also discussed a new agreement among Cyprus, Greece and Israel to boost cooperation. The White House calls it a positive step for regional security.

Netanyahu met with Greek and Cypriot heads of government in Nicosia on Thursday, in an effort to strengthen ties between the three eastern Mediterranean nations and to advance plans to build a gas pipeline to Europe.

In recent months, Jerusalem, Athens and Nicosia have drastically increased cooperation, especially in the field of energy, but Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel’s rapidly improving ties with Greece and Cyprus do not come at the expense of its relations with other countries in the region, notably Turkey.

“Our cooperation with Greece and Cyprus stands on its own. It is something that was long overdue and we’re happy that we’re making progress with it,” he said at a joint press conference with his Greek counterpart, Alexis Tsipras, in Jerusalem.

“It’s independent of our efforts to normalize relations with Turkey,” Netanyahu added. “We’re trying to do this; I don’t know if we’ll succeed, but we’ll keep on trying. We’ll have to ensure that Israeli interests are kept.”

Turkey and Israel enjoyed a “very good relationship” in the past, he continued. “We didn’t want to see it deteriorate, and we didn’t cause this deterioration. If there is a change of policy, we’ll welcome it.”

AP contributed to this report.