Turkey’s parliament approved on Saturday a reconciliation agreement signed with Israel in June, which has brought a six-year rift between the two regional powers to an end. The Israeli government had already ratified the reconciliation agreement with Turkey earlier, but last month’ failed coup-attempt delayed Ankara from bringing it to parliament. “I am reading the results for the vote regarding the compensation deal between the Turkish Republic and the Israeli government; number of votes 228, approval 209, denial 16, and abstention 3. There are no invalid or blank votes. The secretary members are Fehmi Küpçü and Ali Haydar Hakverdi. The draft has been approved and has become law,” said Burhan Kuzu, Turkish MP – AKP.
Relations between the two countries crumbled after Israeli Navy commando’s stormed a Turkish ship, in May 2010, which sought to break the Israeli blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, killing ten Turkish civilians onboard. Israel, which had already offered its apologies for the raid, agreed under the agreement to pay some 20 million dollars to the bereaved families. In return Ankara agreed to withdraw all lawsuits against IDF soldiers who were involved in the affair and limit the Islamist Hamas organization, which has a headquarters in Turkey, from conducting attacks against Israel from Turkish soil. Jerusalem and Ankara are also to appoint ambassadors under the agreement which is partly driven by the prospect of lucrative Mediterranean gas deals. “I don’t think there will be a problem during its (reconciliation agreement) implementation. Israel is dependent on Turkey’s security. Israel can’t afford to be against Turkey while being in a region surrounded by Arab and Islamic countries. Secondly, there are natural gas resources in the Mediterranean that they are pursuing and we want to be a part of it. The shortest and safest route to transport natural gas to Europe, is through Turkey,” said Aysenur Bahcekapili, Turkish Parliament deputy speaker.
The reconciliation agreement, signed on the 28th of June, was a rare rapprochement in the divided Middle East, also driven by mutual fears over growing security risks. Israel welcomed the decision by the Turkish parliament, noting it was a first step in a journey to enable both countries to deepen relations. “Israel welcomes the decision taken by the Turkish parliament to approve the agreement between our two countries. We believe that this only a first stage and we hope that very soon we will be able to have also ambassadors appointed to Ankara and to Jerusalem and this will enable us to continue to deepen our relations,” said Emmanuel Nahshon, Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman.