Israel seeks formula to mend ties with Turkey

After Israel's deadly May 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla aid ship that killed eight Turkish and one US citizen of Turkish origin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited a group of Turkish journalists to Jerusalem and spoke about the issue with them at his office yesterday. Speaking to Turkish reporters, Netanyahu said, "In a region where instability reigns, Israel and Turkey are two quite stable countries. Turks and Jews have a long history. Turkey and Israel are searching for ways to resume normality in the ties. This is crucial for both the two countries and the region. Since I believe in a common interest, both Israel and Turkey should do as much as they can to restore their relationship." Touching upon the diplomatic relations which have significantly developed in the last couple of years between Israel, Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration following the deterioration of relations between Turkey and Israel, Netanyahu noted that this had nothing to do with the deteriorating relations with Turkey. He said that the seed for good ties between Greece and Israel was sown four months before the Mavi Marmara incident took place. Stating that the story about how Israel and Greece decided to promote political relations is based on the coincidence, Netanyahu said, "In February 2010, I went to Moscow with my wife. In the evening, we were eating at a restaurant when someone appeared and told us that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou wanted to come and sit with us. Certainly, I responded, and we started to talk about economic problems. In the end, we both said that all this was just silly, and decided to strengthen our relations. It's quite normal for two neighbors to have such relations."