UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed hope that relations between Israel and Turkey will improve after the publication of the UN report on the Israeli attack on the humanitarian flotilla for Gaza in 2010.
"I sincerely hope that Israel and Turkey will improve relations," Ban Ki-moon said in Canberra after a report was released Friday night on the attack that killed nine Turkish citizens in May 2010.
According to him, Turkey and Israel are "two important countries in the region, which is why improving their relations is also important for the entire Middle East region", including the peace process.
Relations between Turkey and Israel, once close, worsened after an attack on a humanitarian flotilla carrying aid to the Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007. Nine pro-Palestinian humanitarians of Turkish nationality were then killed.
The UN report assessed that the Israeli army used "excessive force" against a humanitarian flotilla that was carrying aid to Gaza and tried to pass the Israeli blockade to Gaza.
It is added that "Turkey and Israel should continue with full diplomatic relations, to improve relations in the interest of stability in the Middle East, but also international peace and stability."
On Friday, before the publication of the UN report, Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador and suspended military cooperation with that country. Ankara, as reported by the Turkish media, gave the date of publication of the UN report as the deadline for Israel to apologize for the attack.
Ankara has given the release date of the UN report as a deadline for Israel to apologize for the attack
Jerusalem said it would not apologize to Turkey, as the report does not call for it, but instead suggests that Israel should express regret and pay compensation to the families of the victims.
An Israeli investigation into the humanitarian flotilla incident found that the government did nothing wrong, and that the armed defense of Israel's naval blockade of Gaza was justified under international law.
The Turkish committee, which also conducted the investigation, rejected, however, Israel's claims of self-defense and assessed that Israeli soldiers used excessive force against unarmed civilians.
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