“deterioration of Turkish-Israeli relations after the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident in May 2010, the long-awaited Israeli apology finally came, shortly before President Barack Obama was about to complete his official trip to Israel. While the apology was reported as the last-minute major event of the day in the Turkish press, both Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu reportedly found Israel’s apology satisfactory.

The apology is without question an important step for the rapprochement between Turkey and Israel. However, both sides need to move forward and engage in a regional cooperation, given the common security threats both Israel and Turkey face from Syria and Iran, and given the potential benefits to both countries from the natural gas project in the Mediterranean.

In a nutshell, the militaries of Israel and Turkey should start working together to face the national security threats in the region, a type of cooperation which was also the basis of the golden age of bilateral relations between the two countries in the 1990s. This time, however, cooperation should exceed the military dimension and include new parameters such as the natural gas project in the Mediterranean and a future triangular alliance with Azerbaijan”

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