Aboard Air Force One
En Route Amman, Jordan
4:24 P.M. IST
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: We’ll do this on background — senior administration officials. Do you guys have the statement from the President?
Q Yes, we do.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Okay. I'll just make a couple of comments and then turn it over here. The President considers both Turkey and Israel to be very close partners and friends of the United States. He has a very close relationship with both Prime Minister Erdogan and Prime Minister Netanyahu, and of course believes strongly that the national security interests of the United States, Turkey, Israel, and frankly, the region are served by normalized Israel–Turkey relations.
You saw the President go into that trailer with the Prime Minister before the departure ceremony. That's when the call was placed from Prime Minister Netanyahu to Prime Minister Erdogan. And I'll turn it over to my colleague here to give a bit more of the background.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: So that is really the context. The United States has important friendships and strategic relationships with both Israel and Turkey, and the President has those relationships with his counterparts. And that's why we have regretted for a couple of years now the absence of normalization — normal relations between those two countries. And we have worked with them and urged them both to reach out and try to put their differences between them.
It’s been difficult, but that's why this call that took place today was important, because it was a sign that both of them — the two Prime Ministers said that to each other — value their own relationship between Turkey and Israel.
And maybe just to give you a flavor of the call itself and more of the context, Prime Minister Netanyahu told Prime Minister Erdogan that he had been discussing with President Obama the importance of regional relations, importance of regional cooperation, and that President Obama had underscored how important it is to us to see all of these countries in the region work with each other, and particularly Turkey and Israel. And he, Netanyahu, wanted to relay that to Prime Minister Erdogan, which he did.
He also told Prime Minister Erdogan that he had seen his interview in a Danish newspaper and that he, Netanyahu, appreciated those comments. And you’ll get this — I'm sure the Israelis and Turks will read this all out.
And then he — again, Netanyahu — brought up the issue that had been dividing them mostly over the past couple of years, which is the flotilla incident, the Mavi Mara incident, and what he told him is that he regretted that that incident had led to a deterioration in their relations. It was important —
Q Netanyahu said this —
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Netanyahu said that he regretted that that incident had led to a deterioration in their relations, and also that in …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House Press Office