White House: "Recently Obama has had frequent talks with the Turkish govt"

There have been frequent talks between the US and Turkish governments in recent weeks, including one at last month's G-20 summit in Canada, to ensure continued progress in bilateral ties between Turkey and the US as well as in Turkish-Israeli relations, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday. Asked if President Barack Obama is concerned about Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's warning that Turkey could cut off relations with Israel over its May 31 flotilla raid, which left nine Turkish peace activists dead, Gibbs said, "President Obama has talked to the Turkish government a lot over the past many weeks, most recently at the G-20, in order to continue to make progress not only in our relationship but on their (Turkish-Israel) relationship throughout the world." Asked whether some gesture from Israel short of an apology for the deadly raid could ease relations between the two countries, Gibbs said, "That's a good question you should pose to the Israeli government. I don't want to speak for either the Turkish or the Israeli government."