Turkish officials in the US reiterated that they are committed to maintaining friendly ties with Israel despite ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two countries, according to a report Thursday by Turkish newspaper
Zaman.
According to the report, Turkish diplomatic sources disclosed the content of talks held between Turkish Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu and several senior US state and defense officials to the media.
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Tensions between Israel and Turkey rose in the wake of the IDF raid on
the Turkish
Mavi Mamara ship trying to break the Gaza blockade, during
which nine Turks were killed on May 31.
The sources explained to US officials that the
Mavi Marmara incident was an episode "between friends," Anatolia news agency reported.
It
was the first time that Israel had experienced such an incident with a
country that it had good diplomatic relations with, the Turkish sources
noted, adding that the impact of the
Mavi Mamara incident was heightened due to this, the
Zaman report continued.
The
report also noted that the Turkish officials said that "the incident had
nothing to do with Turkey’s relations with the Israeli state or with the
Jewish people, but rather was an issue with the Israeli government."
If
Israel had apologized for the incident and agreed to give compensation
then things would have begun to go well sooner, the sources reportedly told the US
officials.