Turkey wants to conclude compensation talks with Israel as soon as possible over the Gaza- bound flotilla incident in 2010, a Turkish diplomat told reporters Monday.
“Israel should perfectly know that this is not a process of bargaining. Compensation talks should not be turned into horse trading or dirty bargaining,” a Turkish official said, referring to their upcoming talks on Israel’s compensation to Turkish victims of an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which left nine dead three years ago.
Ankara wanted to settle the issue as soon as possible, Turkish Daily News quoted the Turkish official as saying.
An Israeli delegation, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser Yaakov Amidror and Netanyahu ‘s special envoy Joseph Ciechwill, is set to visit Turkey on April 21-22 for compensation talks, as part of Turkey’s second condition for the normalization of their strained bilateral relations with the Jewish state.
Israel is willing to pay 100,000 U.S. dollars per victim, in return for dropping all lawsuits against Israeli commandos in Turkish courts, according to unconfirmed Israeli press reports.
Xinhuanet
