Turkey and Israel are on the brink of restoring their ties after a bitter falling-out five years ago, the Turkish foreign ministry announced early Friday after talks in London.
NATO member Turkey was a key regional ally of Israel until the two countries cut ties in 2010 over the deadly storming by Israeli commandos of a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza, which left 10 Turkish aid activists dead.
After years of bitter accusations and inflammatory rhetoric the two sides held secret talks in December to seek a rapprochement, with another round taking place in February in Geneva.
“The teams made progress towards finalising the agreement and closing the gaps, and agreed that the deal will be finalised in the next meeting which will be convened very soon,” the Turkish ministry said in a statement after the fresh round of talks Thursday.
Israel’s foreign ministry declined to comment.
Ankara said the latest talks in London brought together powerful Turkish foreign ministry official Feridun Sinirlioglu, Joseph Ciechanover, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli National Security Advisor Jacob Nagel.
In an interview with Turkish newspaper Vatan on Friday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said “significant progress has been made”, adding that the two sides were hoping to reach “a final stage” in the talks soon.