ANKARA, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday that Turkey's fundamental demands have been met with the apology from Israel.
In an interview with state-run TRT Haber, Davutoglu said that Turkey has been negotiating to settle its dispute with Israel for almost three years and the Israeli side came close to issuing an apology on a number of occasions but failed to do so due to internal political disputes.
He added that multiple sides worked in the process to settle the dispute between the two countries, saying he met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry six times recently to finalize the process.
"We made it clear that Turkey will not change its course of action until an apology is issued," Davutoglu said.
On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered an apology to Turkey for a 2010 Israeli raid on an aid flotilla that resulted in the deaths of eight Turks and a Turkish American, ending deep crisis in ties between the two former allies.
Also on Friday, Israel's prime minister's office said in a statement that the two prime ministers have agreed to normalize bilateral relations between Israel and Turkey, including the return of ambassadors, during their phone talk.
Also, U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday that Washington attached great importance to the restoration of positive relations between Turkey and Israel, and that he welcomed the phone conversation between Erdogan and Netanyahu.
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