AhlulBayt News Agency - Following the meeting of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CPMAJO), the significance of the Turkey-Israeli Regime relations and its future once again has been discussed in the media. CPMAJO is an American non-profit organization that addresses issues of critical concern to the Jewish community,
Erdogan in an obvious change of tone said in the beginning of current year: "Israel is in need of a country like Turkey in the region. And we too must accept that we need Israel. This is a reality in the region". Erdogan stated the above-mentioned word while Turkey-Israeli Regime relations had been deteriorating after the attack of Israelis to the Mavi Marmara ship.
On May 2010, Israeli Forces raided the ship which was carrying humanitarian aid for Gazans and claimed lives of 10 Turkish activists. Turkey insisted on the Israel’s apology as a condition for restoring the bilateral relation.
Nonetheless, disputes were concentrated on political issues as Turkey-Israeli’s economic and security cooperation and coordination were still alive.
Late on 2015, Ankara and Tel Aviv begun covert negotiations to normalize their relations and reportedly reached agreement that based on it Israel was made to pay 20million dollars to the family of Marmara victims and Turkey was committed to restrict Hamas activities in Turkey end the pursuit of Lawsuits against Israel.
To pretend that he cares about the Palestinian issue, Erdogan proposed lifting the siege of Gaza Strip as a condition of rapprochement with Tel Aviv while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had rejected this condition and stated that they have no intention of lifting the siege of Gaza.
It seems that recent regional developments have urged Erdogan to approach Israeli Regime more than ever. Moreover the failure of his regional policy, especially in Syria’s crisis and the Russia's entrance into Syria as well as recent Moscow-Ankara tension due to downing a Russian fighter jet, prevented the Turkey President from following his anti-Israel movements in media. This developments even made Erdogan to restore his relation with the Israeli Regime to the level of cooperation that they had five years ago.
In such a situation, two main scenarios can be imagined for the future of Palestine, Turkey, and Israeli Regime relations:
Scenario number one: two sides will succeed in their negotiations and will come to an agreement which restores their diplomatic relations to past normal one.
The current condition make this scenario more probable, in that case the Gaza strip’s restrictions or even a part of its imposed restriction would be decreased and Erdogan once again would present himself as someone who tries to improve Palestinians conditions and the one who is looking for the reconstruction of Gaza Strip.
Scenario number two: (less probable) two sides, regarding the regional and interior developments, will not succeed in their negotiations or at least could not reach a desirable agreement.
The occurrence of latter scenario and delay in agreement, however, would not have an effect on economical cooperation between Turkey and Israel. In such a case it is also possible that Turkey, under Israelis' pressure, ask Hamas leaders to restrict their activities in Turkey.
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