Accessibility links

Breaking News

Turkey, Israel on Brink of Warming Ties


FILE - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a meeting of local administrators at his palace in Ankara, March 16, 2016. Ties between the Israel and Turkey broke down in 2010 over Israel's interception of a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza.
FILE - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a meeting of local administrators at his palace in Ankara, March 16, 2016. Ties between the Israel and Turkey broke down in 2010 over Israel's interception of a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza.

Turkey says its diplomatic officials have made progress with Israeli diplomats on an agreement to normalize ties.

Ankara's Foreign Ministry said Friday that officials agreed in London Thursday to finalize the deal at their next meeting. A date was not specified; the Ministry said in a statement that it would be "very soon."

Ties between the two countries broke down in 2010 over Israel's interception of a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza, which was under a blockade because of the Hamas militant group's leadership there.

Ten Turkish activists were killed in the incident in 2010, and Turkey has demanded compensation as well as an end to the blockade of the Palestinian territory.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG