Turkey-Israel Mystery: A Secret Meeting with Ankara (Followed by an Israeli Apology?)

The story started to emerge on Wednesday afternoon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly "trying to quietly mend fences with Turkey", had sent Minister of Industry Benjamin Ben-Eliezer on a secret trip (initally said to be in Ankara, then Zurich, and then confirmed as Brussels) to meet Turkish Foreign Ahmet Davutoglu.

The office of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was horrified:

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The foreign minister did not know about the meeting. He considers it a serious matter that the meeting took place without the Foreign Ministry being informed. It is a violation of all normal procedures. It undermines the trust between the foreign minister and the prime minister. The foreign minister intends to clarify the incident.

Reports soon emerged that it was Lieberman who leaked the news of the Ben-Eliezer mission to journalists. Netanyahu's office issued a statement confirming the meeting, without naming the Turkish participant, and explaining that it was initiated by the Turks and was "unofficial".  (Lieberman had not been informed beforehand because of a "technical reason".) Turkish officials insisted that the "request came from the Israeli side".

By Thursday, The Jerusalem Post was headlining, "Turkey: Secret Meeting Unsuccessful". The Turks had supposedly asked for an apology for the 31 May raid on the Freedom Flotilla, a UN inquiry into the incident, payment of compensation, and an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The Post may have written too soon, however. Turkish media are now claiming:

Davutoglu threatened that Israel-Turkey relations may worsen, with Turkey closing its airspace to commerical flights, as well as military ones, should Israel fail to apologize. Ben-Eliezer reportedly answered that Israel is ready to apologize, and even pay the families of those inured in the IDF raid on the Mavi Marmara.

A "Turkish diplomatic source" said, "There will be a second meeting if the Israeli side takes a step toward [meeting] our demands.”