Erdogan: "A step has been taken with a telephone call"

Speaking to a cheering crowd in the province of Eskisehir on Sunday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that normalization in ties with Israel will not take place until Israel properly implements the conditions promised in the apology deal. Referring to the March 22 telephone conversation which was initiated by US President Barack Obama and during which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a formal apology to Turkey, Erdogan said that a step has been taken with that telephone call. "We have said that an apology must be offered, compensation must be paid, and the embargo on Palestine must be lifted. Normalization will not happen as long as these are not fulfilled," Erdogan said. Erdogan also announced his plans over the weekend to visit the Palestinian territories. "It is possible that I will visit Gaza and the West Bank during the course of this month or the next," Erdogan said, adding that the visit would serve to facilitate the process of lifting the Israeli embargo on Palestinian territories, as promised by Netanyahu.