Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Monday said the normalization of Turkish-Israeli relations, severely strained after last week's botched Israeli raid on a Gaza aid flotilla, depends upon Jerusalem's acceptance of an international inquiry into the event.
"If Israel gives the green light to the formation of an international committee and is ready to answer questions of the committee, Turkish-Israeli relations will have a different course.
"Otherwise, Turkish-Israeli relations cannot be normalized," Davutoglu told a press conference in Istanbul.
"If Israel thinks it has protected its national interests and rights, it should declare that it accepts formation of an international committee. Otherwise, it means that they are hiding some facts," he added.
Israel's ambassador to the U.S. has said Israel rejects the idea.
Davutoglu was speaking on the sidelines of a summit of a 20-member security group, where Turkey is seeking to condemn Israel.
The fallout from an Israel raid on a Turkish ship could bring forward elections in Turkey as the government moves to capitalize on a wave of popular support for its anti-Israel policies, according to press reports in the country on Monday.
Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan's moderate Islamist AK party believes its harsh condemnation of Israel, which last week killed nine activists when it raided six protest boats led by the Turkish ship 'Mavi Marmara', could deliver a landslide in the polls.
Secular opposition politicians have condemned the government' uncompromising response, which included the withdrawal of Turkey's ambassador from Israel. They say Erdogan has gone too far in downgrading ties with Israel, traditionally one of Turkey's closest regional allies.
Opposition lawmakers have also warned that Erdogan, who has courted Iran and said recently that Hamas was not a terrorist organization – a position that puts him in direct contradiction with Turkey's NATO partners in the United State and Europe – risks alienating its allies.
According to a Lebanese report on Saturday, Erdogan is considering traveling to Gaza aboard a Turkish navy vessel accompanying a new attempt by protest boats to break Israel's maritime blockade.
On Monday a senior IDF commander said Israel would view an attempt by Erdogan to sail to Gaza as an act of war.
"If he comes here with Turkish warships there can be no doubt that it would amount to a declaration of war," Major-Genral (Res.) Uzi Dayan told Army Radio.
"We need to draw a clear line and say that whoever crosses it will not be boarded but sunk."
But another top defense official, Amos Gilad, who heads the defense ministry's policy unit, urged colleagues to tone down their denouncements of Erdogan rather than exacerbate the crisis with Turkey.
"Precisely because there is a crisis, we need to act with judgment and avoid calling a democratically elected leader a terrorist," Gilad said.