Israel deal 'about to be concluded'

Turkey and Israel are close to a deal on normalizing ties more than five years after relations were downgraded, a senior Turkish official said on Feb. 16.

Turkish media reports said high-level Turkish and Israeli delegations held a second round of talks in Geneva earlier this month.

"The talks are going on. We are close to concluding a deal [on a full normalization of ties] but it is not over yet so I won't comment further," the Turkish official told reporters in Istanbul, according to AFP.

"The sides should show some political will to conclude it," said the official, asking not to be named.

NATO member Turkey was a key regional ally of Israel until the two countries fell out in 2010 over the deadly storming by Israeli commandos of a Turkish aid ship, the Mavi Marmara, bound for Gaza.

But the atmosphere was transformed following the revelation in December 2015 that the two sides had met that month in secret talks to seek a rapprochement.

Turkey has repeatedly insisted on three conditions for normalization: the lifting of the Gaza blockade, compensation for the Mavi Marmara victims and an apology for the incident.

Israel has already apologized and negotiations appear to have made progress on compensation for the victims of the Mavi Marmara raid, which left 10 Turkish aid activists dead.

This leaves Israel's blockade on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip as the main hurdle.

"We put [forward] our views very clearly," said the Turkish official.

"We asked for an apology, we got it. On compensation, the negotiations are about to be over. The lifting of the Gaza blockade is our third condition." 

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an had raised hackles in Israel with his sometimes...