Erdogan Meets Mashal Ahead of Normalizing Relations with Israel

While Israel and Turkey have announced their intention to reconcile and normalize relations in the coming days, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashal. According to Reuters, Erdogan assured Mashal that Turkey would continue to support the Palestinian cause despite reconciling with Israel. The Turkish presidency's statement also noted that Erdogan told Mashal that Turkey's humanitarian support for Palestinians would increase. Reports indicate that the Turkish president emphasized that his country would continue to focus on the situation of Palestinians in Gaza and would use the renewed relationship with Israel to improve living conditions for Gaza residents. Hamas announced on Thursday that Turkey had informed the movement that in recent negotiations between the Turkish delegation for normalizing relations with Israel, it had failed to convince Israel to lift the maritime blockade of Gaza, and 'Israel has not agreed to discuss this matter at all.' Relations between Israel and Turkey soured significantly six years ago following an Israeli naval raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was headed to Gaza to break the maritime blockade. In that attack, ten Turkish citizens were killed, and dozens were injured, with the ship being seized while still in international waters, and other passengers expelled. Meanwhile, Israel and Turkey have announced that their recent negotiations in Europe for normalizing relations have reached a final understanding. The Israeli government has stated that it will put this understanding to a vote among ministers on Wednesday, July 9. In this context, according to the Israeli website Ynet, Avigdor Lieberman, the new Israeli defense minister who was previously opposed to reconciliation with Turkey and had called Netanyahu's apology 'against dignity,' has told the prime minister that he will not vote against the government in the vote. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has recently stated that his country's relations with Hamas 'are not an obstacle to reconciliation with Israel.' Israel had previously fulfilled two of Turkey's emphasized conditions for reconciliation, which were an apology and readiness to pay compensation to the victims' families and injured passengers of the Mavi Marmara, through mediation by the U.S. president. Israeli media have reported that Israel has also managed to gain two significant concessions from Turkey: limiting Hamas's activities in Turkey and the removal of Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT), whom Israel considered an ally of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Erdogan expressed interest in reconciling with Israel at a time when Turkey's relations with many regional countries had soured, and his statements regarding the European Union had also harmed Turkey's international relations. Turkey has been experiencing tense relations with Moscow since the downing of a Russian fighter jet in recent months. Turkey has also severed relations with Egypt over the case of Mohamed Morsi and still considers Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government 'illegal.' Turkey's insistence on removing Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria has also placed it under suspicion of supporting some Syrian opposition groups. Turkish media have reported that the country has appointed a new ambassador to be sent to Tel Aviv, who has been one of the diplomats supporting the faster establishment of relations with Israel.