Israel offers natural gas to Turkey to improve sour relations

Israeli sources have revealed a prospective meeting to be held with Turkish officials to discuss the possibility of exporting natural gas from Israel to Turkey, Quds Press reported yesterday.

According to Israeli radio, the meeting is expected to be held in the coming days in Ankara, Turkey.

Director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry Dore Gold said: “Israel has always strived for stable relations with Turkey and is constantly examining ways to achieve that goal.”

Turkish-Israeli relations began to be strained in 2008 when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised the Israeli war on Gaza.

In 2010, relations were severed in the wake of the Israeli assault on the Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara which was heading to break the siege on Gaza. Ten people were killed in the attack.

Turkey has set three preconditions for an improvement in relations to be possible: an apology for the 2010 Mavi Marmara massacre of Turkish activists by Israeli forces, compensation for the victims’ families and an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Only the first one was fulfilled.