Turkish-Israeli diplomats to meet next week to agree compensation for Mavi Marmara victims

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkish and Israeli diplomats will meet at a technical level over the next few days in order to discuss details of the compensation for nine Turks killed in the Mavi Marmara raid.

Now that Israel has issued a formal apology to Turkey and agreed to pay compensation over the Mavi Marmara killings of 2010, the first step in the process of normalizing relations between Turkey and Israel will be compensation for the Mavi Marmara victims.

Turkish and Israeli diplomats will meet at a technical level over the next few days, more likely the following week, in order to discuss details of the compensation for nine Turks killed in the Israeli raid.  Parties have already begun procedures for the compensation, thus the diplomats will meet to finalize the remaining technical details at the upcoming meeting.

The process of normalization will be "gradual" a Turkish diplomat told the Hürriyet Daily News. Turkey and Israel will dispatch ambassadors to each other’s capitals in subsequent steps of the normalization process. Ankara had summoned its ambassador back from Israel after the Mavi Marmara raid and downgraded diplomatic relations to the level of a second-secretary.

On May 31, 2010, Israeli commandos raided a humanitarian aid flotilla heading for Gaza, killing nine Turkish nationals one of whom was a U.S. citizen. In response, Turkey announced a series of measures to be taken by the Turkish government affecting relations with Israel, including the suspension of Turkish-Israeli military agreements.

Ankara had also partially blocked partnership cooperation between NATO and Israel, particularly regarding military exercises.

"Normalization will come gradually over time," said the Turkish official.

A conversation between Erdoğan, Obama and Netanyahu

A 20-minute phone conversation between the two countries’ premiers, Benjamin Netanyahu and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, mediated by U.S. President Barack Obama, took place in the afternoon on March 22.

The U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry initiated the process during his visit to Ankara on March 1, during which Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu outlined Turkey's conditions for normalization of relations with Israel. Davutoğlu and Kerry held six phone conversations following the meeting to define the agreement with Israel.

Israel agreed to the final text on March 21, while Davutoğlu was paying an official visit to Poland. Davutoğlu was informed about the positive developments regarding the deal with Israel by U.S. officials, and promptly returned to Ankara.

Davutoğlu's official meeting in Poland lasted only 12 minutes as he hastily returned to Ankara after hearing the positive news from US officials on deal with Israel.