Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has revived a plan to make a postponed visit to Gaza and demanded that Israel lift its blockade of the narrow strip between Israel and Egypt as a precondition to restore ties between Ankara and Tel Aviv, Todays Zaman newspaper reported on Friday.

Erdogan told journalists on a plane en route to Ankara from Berlin that he has plans to visit Gaza soon and that authorities are having talks with officials in Gaza to realize this trip.

He welcomed the Qatari emir's recent trip to Gaza.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and his wife Sheikha Mozah crossed from Egypt to Gaza late last month at the head of a large delegation, and were greeted by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and an honor guard.

Erdogan also reiterated his demand that Israel lift its blockade of Gaza.

Touching upon the relations with Israel, Erdogan said during the joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that ties with the Jewish state would not go back to normal unless Israel complied with Turkey's demands after a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound convoy that killed nine Turkish nationals, Anadolu agency reported on Wednesday.

"Normalization process will not begin unless they issue a formal apology, pay redress to the relatives of the victims and remove embargoes on Palestine," Erdogan said.

Israel has many times reached out to Turkey to normalize ties but Turkey says all three demands must be realized to restore relations.

Also, earlier last week Israel again voiced its intention to come to the negotiating table with Turkey in a bid to improve strained relations between the two countries.

Israeli-Turkish relations nosedived after Israeli naval commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship carrying humanitarian aid in eastern Mediterranean to breach the Gaza blockade in 2010. The raid of the ship left eight Turks and one Turkish American dead. In the wake of the incident Turkey has demanded an apology, compensation for the families of victims and the lifting of the Gaza blockade. Israel only expressed regret and says its soldiers acted in self-defense.

Erdogan also said leaders of some countries, acting as mediators in the normalization of relations between Israel and Turkey, persuade Ankara to agree with two conditions - an apology and compensation, and forget about the lifting blockade on Gaza, the Zaman newspaper reported.

However, Ankara insists on fulfilling of all three conditions, as Turkey cannot silently watch as Israel keeps Palestinian residents in blockade.

The Turkish prime minister said Turkey is not indifferent to the fact that "humanity" is living in an "open-air prison" in Palestine.