The director of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Dore Gold, signed the agreement in Jerusalem.
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Turkey and Israel have always been discussing ways to normalize relations.
“The deal is unfair towards the Palestinian people, it only benefits Israel. We will put this incident behind us and continue on our path”, Yildirim said.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, said the deal amounts to Turkish recognition of the Gaza blockade. Ambassadors will return to Ankara and Tel Aviv, economic relations will accelerate and Turkey will be given the opportunity to fund reconstruction efforts in Gaza.
The Turkish leader also thanked U.S. President Barack Obama for his contributions to the reconciliation deal.
Israel was also motivated to find new allies in the region, in part due to a need for export partners for its natural gas.
Days after taking office last month, new Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey needed to “increase its friends and decrease its enemies”, in what appeared a tacit admission that his predecessor’s policies had left the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member isolated.
“I mean positive, enormous implications”, he said.
“In both of these cases, it is practical realpolitik overriding ideological considerations”. An escalation of militant attacks, fighting on two fronts against the PKK and Daesh, having been in trouble with Russian Federation and the European Union, the refugee crisis, and other unexpected changes have all forced Turkey to break the isolation it found itself in and Ankara made a decision to start with Israel.
Netanyahu said an Israeli ambassador will be sent to Turkey, and a Turkish counterpart to Israel, “as soon as possible”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also formally announced the deal at 10:00 GMT from Rome.
Netanyahu also asked Ban to use his position in the worldwide community to help secure the release of the remains of Israeli soldiers held by Hamas as well as Israeli civilians believed held captive in the Gaza Strip.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called for ending the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip and described it as “collective punishment”.
Kerry welcomed the deal, saying, “We are obviously pleased in the administration”. He called the blockade a “top security interest”.
Turkey said the first ship, carrying more than 10,000 tons of aid – including food and clothing – will depart for Israel on Friday. Still, he said the deal doesn’t represent a “honeymoon” between the countries.
In a separate but likely related promise, Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan promised to “instruct relevant Turkish agencies” to resolve the issue of missing Israelis in the Gaza Strip, the bodies of whom Israel claims Hamas is holding. Still, the separate announcements and the lack of any mutual niceties served as a sign of the enduring tensions between Israel’s right wing administration and Ankara’s Islamist government – which seeks to reassert its leadership role in the Muslim world. He said his strategy is to create these points of stability in ties with some Arab states in the region, with Greece and Cyprus, and with Russian Federation. Turkey used its relations with Moscow to counterbalance the US.
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After the Kremlin revealed the existence of Erdogan’s letter, the Turkish lira firmed to 2.9330 against the USA dollar from 2.9430 beforehand.
