Turkey to attend OECD tourism meting in Jerusalem

Turkey will be sending a high-level official to Israel for a biannual tourism conference later this month, Culture and Tourism Ministry officials said Tuesday. Ankara's participation in the conference on sustainable tourism is seen as surprising amid continuing political tension between Israel and Turkey, following Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla this May which left nine Turks dead. Deputy Culture and Tourism Undersecretary Ozgur Ozaslan will represent Turkey at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conference on Oct. 20-22. Diplomatic sources said that dialogue between the two countries is continuing through various channels amid a political environment that doesn't allow public meetings between Turkish and Israeli politicians.