Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon has said that the Turkish government has decided not to resume security coordination with Tel Aviv. Such coordination stopped in mid-2010 following Israel’s assault on the Freedom Flotilla during which nine Turkish peace activists were killed by Israeli forces. The main stumbling block, according to a report on Radio Israel, is Turkey’s insistence on an Israeli apology for last May’s IDF raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara.
Ya’alon believes that Ankara’s three demands – an apology, compensation for victims and their families, and the ending of Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip – make any reconciliation between the two states difficult.