Turkiye conditions ‘sustainable’ ties with Israel with respecting Palestinians

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday that “sustainable relations” with Israel depend on the occupation state respecting “international law on the Palestinian issue.”

American news website Axios reported Cavusoglu saying: “We are seeking to establish a sustainable relationship. Since 1949, our relations have had their ups and downs. I can tell you that those were due to the violations of Palestinian rights, and not due to the problems in our bilateral relations.”

He stressed: “We expect from the Israeli side to respect the international law on the Palestinian issue for a sustainable relationship.”

Cavusoglu said that Turkiye and Israel have common interests and his country is “ready to develop bilateral cooperation and regional dialogue through a positive agenda.”

Relations between the two countries were frozen for most of the past 13 years, but are now beginning to improve.

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Past crises in the relationship were almost all linked to the Israel-Palestinian conflict — particularly the Israeli attacks that killed thousands in Gaza since 2008/9, and the naval raid on Turkish aid ships which were aiming to break the siege on Gaza, ten Turks were killed as a result of Israel’s brutal military maneuver.

Cavusoglu warned that such events could also undermine the current normalisation process, noting that the ongoing dialogue between the two sides has been constructive and momentum is growing.

He pointed out the potential for cooperation in energy, trade, investment, science and technology, agriculture and food security.

Senior Israeli official said that Cavusoglu is likely to visit Israel in May in what would be the first visit by a Turkish foreign minister in more than a decade.