Obama gets Israel to apologise to Turkey
JERUSALEM, March 23 (Reuters) - Israel has apologised to Turkey for killing nine Turkish citizens in a 2010 naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla and the two feuding US allies agreed to normalise relations in a surprise breakthrough announced by US President Barack Obama.
The rapprochement could help regional coordination to contain spillover from the Syrian civil war and ease Israel's diplomatic isolation in the Middle East as it faces challenges posed by Iran's nuclear programme.
In a statement released by the White House only minutes before Obama ended a visit to Israel, the president said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan had spoken by telephone.
“The United States deeply values our close partnerships with both Turkey and Israel, and we attach great importance to the restoration of positive relations between them in order to advance regional peace and security,” Obama said.
The first conversation between the two leaders since 2011, when Netanyahu phoned to offer help after an earthquake struck Turkey, gave Obama a diplomatic triumph in a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories in which he offered no new plan to revive peace talks frozen for nearly three years.
The 30-minute call was made in a runway trailer at Tel Aviv airport, where Obama and Netanyahu huddled before the president boarded Air Force One for a flight to Jordan, US officials said.
Israel bowed to a long-standing demand by Ankara, once a close strategic partner, to apologise formally for the deaths aboard the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara, which was boarded by Israeli marines who intercepted a flotilla challenging Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip.
“In light of Israel's investigation into the incident which pointed to a number of operational mistakes, the prime minister expressed Israel's apology to the Turkish people for any mistakes that might have led to the loss of life or injury,” Netanyahu's office said in a statement in English.
It added that he had agreed to conclude an agreement on compensation and said Netanyahu and Erdogan agreed to normalise ties between the two countries, including returning their ambassadors to their posts. Erdogan's office said he had accepted the apology and had told Netanyahu that he valued centuries of “strong friendship and cooperation between the Turkish and Jewish nations”.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that, with the apology, all of Turkey's fundamental demands had been met.