Azerbaijan, Baku, May 7 / Trend R.Hafizoglu /
The U.S. has commended Turkey for its excellent efforts to find a solution for the crisis in Syria, the U.S. Department of State Regional Spokesperson Joshua Baker told Trend.
"We remain committed with our like-minded partners such as Turkey to increase pressure on the regime. We commend the Turkish government for its tremendous role in assisting Syrian refugees at its borders," Baker said.
Turkey's role in assisting the Syrian Opposition Coalition has also been critical as we saw last week, when they hosted the Friends of Syria Group meeting in Istanbul, where we all listened to the Syrian Opposition confirm to us their emphasis on a pluralistic Syria that rejects extremism, he said.
According to him, Turkey's Foreign Minister Davutoglu has worked tirelessly to bring the parties together to come up with additional ways to support the Syrians and put pressure on the Assad regime, Baker said.
The meeting of the foreign ministers of 11 countries of the Friends of Syria Group was held in Istanbul on April 20. It adopted a declaration of the Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and a joint statement for the group.
Demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad's regime that began in Syria in March 2011 escalated into open armed conflict. About 70,000 people were killed in two years of fighting in Syria. More than a million people were forced to flee the country.
Regarding the weakening of the crisis in relations between Turkey and Israel, Baker said the United States deeply values our close partnerships with both Turkey and Israel and attaches great importance to the restoration of positive relations between them in order to advance regional peace and security.
"Turkey and Israel are vital allies of the United States. We are hopeful that their agreement to restore normalisation between their countries will help to open the door to greater cooperation so that all of us can work together to promote peace and be part of the peace process," he said.
We would like to see the relationship between Turkey and Israel get fully back on, the State Department representative said.
""To be back on track in its full measure, it is imperative that the compensation component of the agreement be fulfilled, that the ambassadors be returned, and that full relationship be embraced"," he said.
On Monday, May 5 an official delegation from Turkey arrived in Israel to discuss compensation to the families of the victims of a 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla Mavi Marmara that left nine Turks dead.
The vessel was stormed by the Israeli Forces blocking passage into the Gaza Strip. Those on board attacked the Israeli military. In response the latter opened fire resulting in the deaths of Turkish citizens.
The incident had a negative impact on bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel. Since June 2010, dialogue between the two countries halted. The parties withdrew their ambassadors leaving only representations on economic affairs.
The first round of talks between the two countries on the issue was held in late April in Ankara. Turkey insists on resolving the issue of compensation prior to any normalisation of relations with Israel.
This is the first visit of Turkish diplomats to Israel in the past three years.
Israel has apologised to Turkey in connection with the Mavi Marmara incident.
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