Baku-APA. Long stymied by disputes over a key demand in a compensation deal, talks between Turkey and Israel are progressing, said Turkish government officials, nearly four years after an Israeli raid left nine Turkish civilians dead, while adding that a final deal on the normalization of ties between the two countries is still not certain, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
"The negotiations have been going on since March of last year. We have reached the most promising stage on the deal... (But) we have not put the final touches," Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said on Monday night.
Turkey recalled its ambassador from Israel and downgraded ties with the Jewish state after Israel's commando raided the Mavi Marmara, a humanitarian ship owned by a Turkish charity group that was participating in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in 2010. The incident left nine Turkish activists onboard dead.
The aid vessel, part of a larger flotilla group, had been attempting to break Israel's long-standing naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Israel offered a belated apology three years later but the normalization of relations has been stymied by the compensation deal for the victims' families.
The breakthrough in compensation talks was reported on Sunday by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who said relations with Israel have progressed to their most promising level since the raid.
"There is a certain rapprochement and momentum in the compensation talks. We can say that the differences of opinions have been reduced in the latest meetings. A significant distance has been covered on the compensation issue," Davutoglu said.
"Turkey is signaling that it wants to improve ties with the West, especially with the United States, by patching up troubled ties with Israel," Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, the head of Ankara's International Strategic and Security Research Center, told Xinhua.
"Turkey has lately experienced a series of failures in its foreign policy. It needs to repair ties with Israel as much as Israel needs to restore vital relations with Turkey," he added.
Although officials express optimism over the progress, neither a date of settlement nor the amount of compensation has been announced.
Over the weekend, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a private meeting with the head of the charity group, the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (IHH), in an attempt to soothe concerns the group had before making any announcement on the deal.
Many in Israel are worried about the legal measures that could be taken against the Israeli soldiers who took part in the raid, as IHH head Bulent Yildirim said last May that the group will never drop legal cases filed against Israeli military members who raided the humanitarian aid ship.
On Nov. 6, 2012, a court case was filed against the Israeli military members in Istanbul. The court is still in the process of hearing charges against four of Israel's most senior retired commanders, including the ex-army chief, in absentia. Prosecutors are requesting life imprisonment for the officers who directed the raid.
However, using the deal as a type of international agreement that will be approved by both parliaments, Israel seeks to clinch the reconciliation in exchange for halting the trial proceedings in Turkey, and when the compensation is paid to the relatives of the victims, Israel will be automatically shielded with non- liability from legal proceedings.
Turkey's opposition questioned Erdogan's move, saying that the prime minister needs to inform the public of the details of the deal.
The thaw on relations with Israel may be a hard sell to the Turkish public on the eve of elections. The nation will see local elections on March 30, followed by a presidential election during this summer.
The breakthrough in the Turkish-Israeli relations followed U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Israel in March 2013, where he convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call his Turkish counterpart Erdogan to apologize for the flotilla incident.
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