Israeli and Turkey reached a draft agreement to compensate the families of nine Turkish activists killed in the raid of the Mavi Marmara ship as it attempted to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza in May 2010, and mend a three-year diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
“The two sides expect to come to an agreement in the near future,” said a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office after a meeting in Jerusalem between Israeli and Turkish officials.
“The meeting was conducted in a good and positive manner. The delegations reached an agreed draft, but further clarifications are required on certain subjects,” the office said.
Leading the Turkish delegation were Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, who met with Israel's National Security Council head Yaakov Amidror and special envoy to Turkey, attorney Joseph Ciechanover.
Turkey and Israel once enjoyed very close political and military cooperation, but the flotilla incident led Turkey to freeze diplomatic relations.
In March, in a phone conversation during the final moments of US President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for operational errors made in the raid and promised compensation for the victims and their families.
Netanyahu agreed to ease, but not lift, the blockade of Gaza in return for Ankara dropping the lawsuits, potentially paving the way for normalization between the two countries.