Kerry Moves to Help Turkey and Israel to Restore Ties

[alp227]

Source: NYT

Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Istanbul early Sunday morning to encourage Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to move ahead with his commitment to normalize relations with Israel.

President Obama brokered an agreement between Israel and Turkey to restore their ties during his visit to Jerusalem last month.

Turkey and Israel’s diplomatic ties had been frozen since 2010 after nine Turks were killed when the Israeli military intercepted a Turkish ship that was trying to run the blockade on supplies to Gaza. But no sooner was the new agreement announced than Mr. Erodogan boasted that it underscored Turkey’s regional clout, and concerns emerged that there could be problems fulfilling the agreement.

Mr. Kerry plans to meet with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Mr. Erdogan, who is scheduled to visit Washington next month for discussions with President Obama.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/world/europe/kerry-moves-to-help-turkey-and-israel-to-restore-ties.html

[Kolesar]

1. Turkey helped Israel develop their nukes

&how about this bit of fun:

Mr. Kerry also plans to take up Turkey’s fraught relations with Iraq. To the consternation of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government in Baghdad, Turkey has been discussing the establishment of a direct oil pipeline to the semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Kerry is a hard-working guy--getting results, too.

[Scootaloo]

3. Can't have them fighting if we're going to wipe Iran off the map, after all