ISTANBUL, Feb 16 : Turkey and Israel are close to a deal on normalising ties more than five years after relations were downgraded, a senior Turkish official said on Tuesday.
NATO member Turkey was a key regional ally of Israel until the two countries fell out in 2010 over the deadly storming by Israeli commandos of a Turkish aid ship, the Mavi Marmara, bound for Gaza.
But the atmosphere was transformed following the revelation in December that the two sides had met that month in secret talks to seek a rapprochement.
Turkish media reports said high-level Turkish and Israeli delegations held a second round of talks in Geneva earlier this month.     ?AFP