Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that Turkey normalizing relations with Israel would not mean a change in Ankara's Palestinian policy, ahead of an expected visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog next month.
He was speaking to state broadcaster TRT Haber, underlining comments he made earlier this week that Turkey will not turn its back on its commitment to a Palestinian state to broker closer ties with Israel, Reuters reported.
Relations between Turkey and Israel froze over after the death of 10 civilians in an Israeli raid on a Turkish flotilla carrying aid for the Gaza Strip in 2010.
In recent months, however, the two countries have been working on a rapprochement, with Erdogan, a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, holding telephone talks with Herzog and other Israeli leaders.
The Turkish strongman had already said he was prepared to work with Israel on reviving an old project to ship Mediterranean gas to European clients via Turkey.
His remarks came after the US reportedly dropped support for a rival pipeline project involving Israel and Turkey’s historic rival Greece.
Turkey had strongly opposed the project, which was supported by the former administration of US president Donald Trump.
