Sixteen people went on trial in Istanbul on Tuesday, charged with "political and military" espionage on behalf of Israel, Turkish media reports said.
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The defendants, including Palestinians and Syrians, were arrested in October in an operation by Turkey's national intelligence agency, MIT, according to the pro-government Sabah newspaper and other Turkish media. They face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The suspects allegedly spied on Palestinian and Turkish students and other people on behalf of Israel, operating in five separate groups, Sabah newspaper reported. Some of the suspects allegedly met with Israeli officials in Switzerland, Croatia, Romania and Kenya.
Turkish intelligence officers reportedly monitored the group for a year before they were arrested. Turkish officials have not commented on the arrests. Sabah said the initial hearings in the trial would last four days.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday, ahead of an expected visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog next month, that his country will not turn its back on its commitment to a Palestinian state in order to broker closer ties.
The two countries expelled their ambassadors in 2018 after a bitter falling-out and relations have remained tense but Ankara has taken steps to mend strained regional ties, including with Israel.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Herzog would visit Turkey in mid-March, the first such trip in years, adding the two countries could discuss energy cooperation. Herzog has yet to confirm the visit.
Ankara, which supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has condemned Israel's occupation of the West Bank and its policy towards Palestinians, while Israel has called on Turkey to drop support for the militant Palestinian group Hamas which runs Gaza.
"Any step we take with Israel regarding our relations, any normalization, will not be at the expense of the Palestinian cause, like some other countries," Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara, referring to the rapprochement between Israel and some Gulf countries that has angered Turkey.
"Our position there is always clear," he added. "These ties normalizing a bit more may increase Turkey's role regarding a two-state solution as well, as a country that will be in touch with both countries, but we will never turn back on our core principles."
Gulf states that have established ties with Israel have sought to reassure the Palestinians that their countries are not abandoning the quest for statehood, despite Palestinian leaders having decried the deals as a betrayal of their cause.
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