In a possible sign of warming relations between Turkey and Israel, an aid to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Dr. Hakan Yurdakul, together with Israeli Foreign Ministry representatives, attended a European Jewish Parliament conference on Wednesday focusing on a renewed agenda between the former allies. Yurdakul is a board member of the Turkish Presidency's Committee for Economic Policies.
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In his address to the conference, Yurdakul said both countries would benefit from the establishment of an economic committee for regional cooperation to explore areas of mutual interests "for a better future."
Other Turkish representatives included Dr. Nurcan Özkaplan, a professor of history at Yildirim Beyazit University in Ankara. In her address, Özkaplan provided a detailed background of Turkish-Jewish relations and cooperation during the Ottoman Empire and explored the possibility of creating a common future in our region.
Also in attendance was Moris Reyna, the former president of the Union of Turkish Jews in Israel.
The conference took place just a few hours after Şalom, a Jewish weekly newspaper published in Turkey, ran an interview with former admiral Cihat Yayci, a close confidant of Erdogan and the father of the "blue homeland" doctrine (pertaining to Ankara's maritime claims in the eastern Mediterranean), who said that "it is in the interest of Turkey and Israel to re-normalize relations."
Yayci called on Israel to agree to the proposal of a shared maritime border in the Mediterranean Sea, as first reported by Israel Hayom. A more detailed version of the plan was published in the Turkeyscope monthly journal published by the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.
Yayci gave the interview after Turkey suffered another diplomatic blow when Egypt and Greece agreed this week to disagree about proposed areas for gas and oil drilling in the Mediterranean Sea.
This occurred five days after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey could reach an agreement with Egypt on a maritime border.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said that the dispute over one of Egypt's three drilling areas was "technical" and had been resolved. According to reports, teams from Egypt met and re-drew maritime borders for the problematic area, a deal that directly affects Turkey, since the Turks claim ownership of the area delineated by Greece and Egypt.
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