NEW YORK / BRUSSELS - World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder today warmly welcomed the thaw in relations between Israel and Turkey. Lauder said the news has been met by “a sigh of relief” in many Jewish communities around the world. He praised Prime Minister Netanyahu’s call to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and said it had been “the right thing to do in this situation”, despite the “very justified reservations” Netanyahu and others in Israel had had against such a step.
Lauder expressed hope that the gesture by Israel would effectively end the diplomatic crisis between the two countries: “Turkey and Israel must work together. There are so many issues in the region where these two countries can make a difference. One of them is military cooperation in order to secure geopolitical stability in the Middle East.”
Lauder said he had met with Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu seven times since the Gaza Flotilla incident in May 2010: “In these talks the Turkish side has always made it clear that if Israel apologizes a new beginning in relations is possible. We sincerely hope that they will keep their word.
The WJC president praised US President Barack Obama for brokering a breakthrough in Israeli-Turkish relations: “President Obama’s visit to Israel was extremely important. He has shown that American leadership is essential if any progress is to be made in the peace process.
"On behalf of the World Jewish Congress I wholeheartedly thank him not just for helping to restore Israeli-Turkish relations but also for his important visit to Israel. “His visit further strengthened the bond between Israelis and Americans. We hope that this provides the basis for renewed efforts to restart negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.”
