Turkey, Israel to Have Talks on Gas Delivery From Eeastern Mediterranean to Europe, Erdogan Says
22:35 GMT 29.05.2022 (Updated: 10:53 GMT 24.01.2023)
© AFP 2023 / ADEM ALTANTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech following an evaluation meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on April 5, 2021. - Erdogan on April 5, 2021, accused dozens of retired admirals of eyeing a "political coup" by attacking his plans for a canal linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. Erdogan's fury was directed at a letter published by 104 former admirals over the weekend urging him to abide by the terms of the 1936 Montreux Convention.
© AFP 2023 / ADEM ALTAN
Subscribe
ANKARA (Sputnik) - Turkey and Israel will hold negotiations on gas deliveries from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe through Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.
Earlier in the month, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that gas from the Eastern Mediterranean could become an alternative to Russian supplies for the European Union, and Ankara is ready to be part of this process.
"There will be talks of our minister of energy and natural resources with Israeli officials regarding taking this step on natural gas with Israel," Erdogan told reporters, adding that the Israeli side has expressed its readiness on the matter.
Noting that they will take steps to bring Turkish-Israeli relations to a more positive state, Erdogan said that the views on this issue are positive at the moment.
This comes after Turkish FM Mevlut Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu visitied Jerusalem, where he pledged to imrove ties with Israel. It became the first ever visit of a high-ranking Turkish official to the country in 15 years.
More and more states in the Middle East seem to be revitalizing economic and even diplomatic ties with the state of Israel, which has been traditionally surrounded by enemies in the region. Following US-mediated Abraham Accords, under which the UAE and Bahrain agreed to normalize ties with Israel, Morocco and Sudan also joined the normalization process, launched by the Trump administration. In the wake of these events, there are rumors that Saudi Arabi might follow suit.