Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said that a reconciliation agreement between Turkey and Israel will likely be signed before the Turkish parliament goes on recess.
“Israel has met our terms, paving the way to normalise ties. Therefore, we must do this as soon as possible,” Cavusoglu told journalists.
Under the terms of the agreement, Turkey and Israel will exchange Ambassadors and Tel Aviv will pay $20 million in compensation to the families of the 2010 flotilla attack victims.
Israel has also agreed to Turkey’s request to maintain a humanitarian presence in the blockaded Gaza Strip.
When asked about EU relations, after statements from several EU officials saying reinstating that the death penalty would end Turkey’s membership bid, Cavusoglu said the EU’s attitude has affected the Turkish public’s view of the bloc “negatively”. “If the EU wants to lose Turkey, they should say it clearly”, Cavusoglu said. “They should say ‘we want to halt the negotiations,’ not just threaten us”, he added.
Cavusoglu said there is no need for the EU to make “threatening” statements. “We applied to be a member, and we want to meet the obligations to become one”, Cavusoglu said. “We went through a deadly coup attempt, but instead of supporting our case, the EU threatens us with halting the membership process. Why would they do that? We need to see the point here.”
On the EU migrant deal with Turkey being at risk, Cavusoglu said the EU reacted to the issue because “Turkey makes the rules and stipulates.”
Turkey’s migrant deal with the European Union “will not be possible” any longer if Ankara’s visa-waiver demands are not met, both President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Cavusoglu have said.
“We need to implement the migrant deal and visa-waiver deal together,” Cavusoglu said.
AA News Agency
