Israel buried friendship: Davutoğlu

“Israel has buried the Turkish-Israeli friendship into the deep waters of the Mediterranean by killing nine of our citizens,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said, answering a question on whether Israeli-Turkish relations would recover in the near future, during a press conference with his Italian counterpart.

Nine Turkish citizens were killed when Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara, the lead vessel in a six-ship Gaza-bound aid flotilla last year in May.

Davutoğlu told reporters Nov. 25 Israel should apologize, pay compensation to families of the Turkish citizens it killed and end the embargo on Gaza. Otherwise, he said, relations between Turkey and Israel would not be normalized.

Israel should decide to either be a part of the problem or the solution in this region, said Davutoğlu.

“Unfortunately they have decided to be part of the problem now,” he said.