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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Turkey will not normalize ties with Israel unless it first lifts the blockade on the Gaza Strip, said Ibrahim Kalin a spokesman for Turkish President.
Kalin added that Ankara pursues a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Turkey will continue to play its role until a two-state solution is reached, and the Palestinian people have their own state. There cannot be permanent peace in the region until the Palestinian problem is solved,” Kalin told a press conference according to Reuters.
Israeli and Turkish leaders announced last week that they have reached a framework to normalize relations five years after they cut ties over the killing of 9 Turkish nationals on Mavi Marmara.
Ankara has three conditions it wants met before normalization becomes a formal agreement: An official apology by the Israeli government for the raid, financial compensation for the dead and a complete end to the Israeli blockade on the Hamas-ruled strip which the Israelis insist is a necessary precaution to stop Hamas and/or other Palestinian militants acquiring munitions to use against them.
“Turkey – Israel relations will not normalize until Israel realizes the three conditions. We have not give up on these,” Kalin insisted.
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