DHAKA: Israel will ease its blockade on the Gaza Strip as part of reconciliation with Turkey.
The Turkish newspaper Sabah Daily, which is affiliated with the ruling party of Turkey, said on Saturday, reports The Jerusalem Post.
Additionally, Israel will also compensate the victims of the Mavi Marmara flotilla, totaling a sum of $20 million, and diplomatic relations will be restored between the two countries.
The front page story in the paper reported that Turkey received the promise of easing the blockade by Israel. The paper reported that Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will close the deal by the end of this year, and immediately return diplomatic relations between both countries.
When asked the idea of diplomatic reconciliation between Turkey and Israel, the Prime Minister’s Office said that they were working towards restoring diplomatic ties, without mention of the blockade in Gaza.
In recent years, incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that the lifting of the siege on Gaza is a basic condition for him to complete reconciliation with Israel, and stressed that Ankara will not give up on this issue.
According to the report, besides easing the siege the reconciliation agreement will include compensation to the families of those killed in the Mavi Marmara incident amounting to roughly $20 million, the return of ambassadors to each others capitals, and a Turkish agreement not to file lawsuits against Israel or against Israeli soldiers regarding the flotilla incident.
Erdoğan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said, ‘the issue of normalizing relations between Turkey and Israel should include the payment of compensation for damage to the Marmara ship, and lifting the blockade of the Gaza Strip’.
Earlier this week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey told reporters that reconciliation ‘would be good for us, Israel, Palestine and the entire region’.
BDST: 1902 HRS, DEC 19, 2015
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