Turkish diplomat says Turkey has direct contact with Israel
Turkey and Israel were two friendly countries in the Middle East until the Mavi Marmara raid by Israeli commandos a few years back.
Since said incident, Turkey has been demanding an apology from Israel for having killed passengers on board after stopping the vessel carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.
It has often been stated since then that Turkey and Israel have stopped their direct relations in spite of several efforts to mend the broken relation between two countries.
Yesterday however an interesting statement came from Turkey’s ambassador to Washington who said Turkey had direct contact with Israel and its communication channels were open.
Ambassador Namık Tan said to a TV channel at a conference organized by the Foreign Ministry “Our demands are clear; Israelis know these legal demands as well. We have direct contact with them and our communication channels are open”.
The ambassador did not fail to make clear Turkey’s stance on normalization of ties between two countries, saying it could only be realized if Israel meets Turkey’s demands.
02.01.2013
BTT
