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ANKARA (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would like to have better ties with Israel, but criticized Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians as “unacceptable” and a “red line” for Ankara, adding that the intelligence talks were being held. resumed between the two parties.
The two countries have had a bitter fight in recent years, despite strong trade ties, expelling ambassadors in 2018. Ankara has repeatedly condemned Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and its treatment of the Palestinians.
Speaking to reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul, Erdogan said Turkey had problems with “people of the highest level” in Israel and that the ties could have been “very different” were it not for those problems.
“Palestine policy is our red line. It is impossible for us to accept Israel’s Palestinian policies. Their ruthless acts there are unacceptable,” Erdogan said.
“If there were no problems at the highest level, our relations could have been very different,” he added. “We would like to take our ties to a better point.”
Turkey and Israel, former allies, expelled each other’s top diplomats in 2018 over clashes when Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinians on the Gaza border. Ankara and Tel Aviv continue to trade with each other.
In August, Israel accused Turkey of handing over passports to a dozen Hamas members in Istanbul, and described the move as “a very hostile step” that its government would take to Turkish officials.
Hamas seized Gaza from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, and the group has fought three wars with Israel since then. Turkey says that Hamas is a legitimate political movement that was democratically elected.
Israel, which has formalized ties with four Muslim countries this year, said on Wednesday that it was working to normalize ties with a fifth Muslim nation, possibly in Asia. Tunisia said on Tuesday it did not intend to normalize ties.
Ankara has criticized US-negotiated rapprochements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, and Erdogan previously threatened to suspend diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates and withdraw his envoy. He also criticized Bahrain’s decision to formalize the ties as a blow to efforts to defend the Palestinian cause.
The Palestinians have censured the agreements negotiated by the United States, seeing a betrayal of a long-standing demand that Israel first satisfy its demand for statehood. Egypt and Israel established full relations in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
Israel will hold snap elections in March after parliament missed the deadline for passing a budget on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ali Kucukgocmen, edited by Ece Toksabay)
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