In the first ministerial meeting since the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident six years ago, which caused a rift between the two countries, Israel and Turkey have agreed to deepen energy ties.
National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz sat down with Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak in a planned meeting at the World Energy Council’s 23rd World Energy Congress, held this year in Istanbul.
In a press conference for Turkish journalists following the meeting, Minister Steinitz said: “This is a token of the normalisation process that just started between our two states, between Turkey and Israel”.
He added: “I came here on behalf of the Israeli government and the Israeli people. I am confident that most people are eager to see peace and stability in the region and good relations and cooperation – economic cooperation – between Turkey and Israel”.
The Israeli and Turkish energy ministers discussed the possibility of exporting Israeli gas to Turkey, as well as the importance of leveraging the energy sector to stabilise the Eastern Mediterranean region as a whole, according to the Israeli ministry.
Describing his meeting with Albayrak as “very good”, Steinitz told journalists that the two ministers both discussed energy issues in general and focused more specifically on natural gas, and the possibility of constructing an export pipeline to deliver gas to both Turkey and Europe via Turkey.
Two weeks ago, Steinitz also visited Athens to meet with his Greek and Cypriot counterparts to discuss the idea of laying a similar type of pipeline to Cyprus and then to Greece, which could also connect Israeli gas to Europe.
