Recently, a draft agreement on normalization between Turkey and Israel was submitted to the Turkish parliament. It is expected to be approved in the coming days.
According to the document, within 25 days, compensation to the tune of $20 million will be paid to the families and relatives of those killed on the Mavi Marmara ship during a conflict on May 31, 2010.
This move will relieve the legal and criminal responsibility from the Israeli troops involved in the operation. The Mavi Marmara case will be closed.
In an interview with Sputnik, Turkish political analyst Ozlem Tur said Ankara wants to normalize ties with Israel in a bid to break the regional isolation of Turkey.
“Why did Turkey come up with such an agreement? I think the reason is the situation in the region. Turkey is seeking ways to break the isolation provoked by its foreign policy. This agreement is very important for Ankara,” she said.
Moreover, the Turkish government believes that Israel is interested in cooperation with Turkey, especially in energy.
At the same time, for a long time the Israeli government insisted it had no need for cooperation with Turkey since it had “alternative options.”
However, after Ankara sent a clear signal of normalization, Israel accepted the offer, partially because of the need to find new partners in the region.
“Ties between Turkey and Israel will be based on mutual benefits, with respect to the interest of each country. And only time will tell how far this cooperation could go. What is also important, it will depend on the situation in Syria because Turkey-Israel normalization is part of the regional security,” the analyst pointed out.
Another key factor in the process is the Kurdish problem. Turkey is likely to ask Israel for help, including sharing intelligence data.
“I think the initial impulse for normalization was not energy but the security situation in the Middle East,” she added.
“Intelligence cooperation is very important for Turkey’s policy towards Kurds. Tel-Aviv’s assistance is of strategic importance for Ankara. Turkey wants the assistance it hasn’t receive from the United States, from Israel. Cooperation with Israel will help Turkey prevent undesired scenarios in the Kurdish problem,” she said.
Normalization with Israel is geo-strategically important for Turkey despite criticism from the Arab world because cooperation with Tel-Aviv would help resolve such priority issues as the Syrian crisis and the Kurdish problem, the analyst concluded.
Source: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160819/1044444137/turkey-israel-normalization.html