Official: Turkey reiterated conditions to improve ties during secret meeting with Israel

Turkey lays out conditions for better ties

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu laid out Turkey’s conditions for improved ties with Israel during a secretly held meeting with an Israeli Cabinet minister, his spokesman said Thursday.

Davutoglu met with Israel’s Industry Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer in Brussels on Wednesday in an attempt to mend rapidly deteriorating ties over the deadly raid on Gaza-bound aid ships.

The meeting, which became public after it was reported by Israeli TV, was the first contact between Turkish and Israeli government officials since relations between the two former allies reached a new low over the deaths of eight Turks and a Turkish-American in the raid.

Few details have emerged about the meeting, but Foreign Ministry Spokesman Burak Ozugergin said that the two discussed “the latest state of relations.”

Davutoglu “once again relayed the steps that Israel needs to take relations further,” Ozugergin told The Associated Press.

Turkey demands that Israel apologize for the raid, offer compensation to the victims, agree to an international probe into the incident and end its blockade of Gaza.

Turkey withdrew its ambassador to protest the raid and is barring some military planes from using its airspace. Turkish officials have said the envoy will not return until Israel takes steps to meet the demands.

Israel insists commandos involved in the May 31 raid acted in self-defense after being attacked by pro-Palestinian activists and has launched its own probe into the incident.

The meeting caused a spat within Israel’s ruling coalition. Israel’s own foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said he was not informed and blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for what he called a “serious blow to the trust” between them.

Lieberman, who is known for his blunt style, is a divisive figure at home and largely unpopular abroad and is widely seen to have been sidelined in foreign policy by Netanyahu.

Lieberman’s comment led Netanyahu’s office to release a statement confirming the meeting but explaining that it was initiated by the Turks and was “unofficial.” The statement did not name the Turkish participant and said the failure to inform Israel’s foreign minister was due to an unspecified “technical reason.”

In Ankara, Ozugergin denied that the meeting was initiated by Turkey, insisting that the “request came from the Israeli side.”

Another Turkish government official said the two ministers did not make any arrangements for a further meeting, but did not rule out the possibility of more talks in the future. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without prior authorization.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. had encouraged the two sides to try to repair recent damage to the relationship.

“We have had conversations with both countries individually,” Crowley said. “In those conversations, we have reinforced that a relationship between Turkey and Israel is not only in the best interest of the region, it supports our interest in the region as well. It has been a valuable relationship.”

Associated Press Writer Matt Lee in Washington contributed to this report.