Saturday 23 March 2013

Israel and Turkey to restore diplomatic ties

 Israel and Turkey have agreed to restore full diplomatic relations after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologised for a deadly naval raid against a Gaza-bound international flotilla in a turnaround partly brokered by the US President.
Netanyahu said on Friday he "expressed apology" to Turkey for any error that led to the death of nine Turkish nationals in the 2010 incident. Israel also agreed to compensate the families of the victims, he said.
It was a surprising turnaround for Netanyahu who had long rejected calls to apologise. He announced the breakthrough after a 20-minute phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
US President Barack Obama helped broker the fence-mending while visiting Israel, but the sides had been reaching out to each other before.
Israel and Turkey to restore diplomatic ties - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

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