Turkey ties won’t return to pre-flotilla warmth, deputy FM says

Reviving ties with Turkey is one of the government’s top goals, Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin said Tuesday morning, while opining that, notwithstanding Israeli efforts at rapprochement, the relationship between the countries would not reach past levels of amiability.

In an interview with Israel Radio, Elkin confirmed that Israeli and Turkish officials would soon discuss compensation for the families of nine Turkish nationals killed when Israeli commandos intercepted the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara boat in 2010.

That event heavily marred the relationship between the two countries, and in its wake, Turkey insisted on an apology and compensation from Israel among prerequisites for an unfreezing of ties.

Elkin is working under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is acting as foreign minister pending the conclusion of presumptive FM Avigdor Liberman’s corruption trial.

Last month, Netanyahu apologized to his counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but the Turkish prime minister is insisting on a number of Israeli steps, reportedly including compensation to the tune of some $1 million per family of the Mavi Marmara victims, before full re-normalization can be declared.

On Tuesday, Elkin insisted that the Mavi Marmara wasn’t the reason behind the unraveling of ties between the countries; they had drifted apart before the May 2010 flotilla to Gaza, he said, alluding to the rise of the pro-Islamist Erdogan and the fiercely anti-Israel rhetoric that has been a hallmark of his tenure.

Turkey has “geopolitical aspirations in the region,” and its position on Israel is influenced by those ideas, Elkin said.

Reconciliation with Turkey serves “several Israeli interests,” he explained, pointing at the ongoing civil war in neighboring Syria, Iran’s drive for nuclear armament, and the importance of Israel cooperating with NATO, of which Turkey is a member.

Asked about the peace process with the Palestinians, Elkin, one of the proponents of an initiative to annex Israeli-administrated areas of the West Bank, said the government was interested in restarting the talks but was unwilling to “pay a price merely for talking.” He was alluding to Palestinian demands for a freeze on all settlement activities as a prerequisite to negotiations.