Post Iran deal, Israel looks to improve ties with Turkey

Efforts by Israel and Turkey to restore their once strong relationship could be helped by the common threats they face from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants and Iran, a senior Israeli diplomat said on July 21.

Israeli-Turkish ties have soured during Tayyip Erdo?an's rule in Ankara, but his Islamist-rooted AK Party's setbacks in a June 7 election and the reshaping of the region has stirred speculation about a realignment of interests. 

Delegates from both sides have been trying to finalise a compensation deal over the killing by Israeli marines of 10 Turks aboard a pro-Palestinian activist ship that tried to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2010. 

Asked where the reconciliation efforts stood, Dore Gold, the director-general of Israel's Foreign Ministry, told reporters: "I think there is an effort by both sides to see whether we can move forward, how do you say, to turn over a new leaf and see whether we can improve our relations." 

"The threats that Israel faces are the threats that Turkey faces - in particular the threats of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and above all the threat of Iran. Iran is active in trying to undermine Turkey and hopefully we can find an agreed path to putting our disagreements behind us," Gold said. 

He declined to elaborate on the alleged threat to Turkey from Iran. Erdo?an, previously Turkey's prime minister and now its president, had long opposed international sanctions aimed at curbing Tehran's disputed nuclear programme. 

Turkey is struggling with spillover from the civil war in next-door Syria. On July 20, a suspected ISIL suicide bomber killed at least 32 people in a Turkish border town. 

While trade between Israel and Turkey...