Turkey said Monday it wants to normalize relations with Israel after its assistance in Israel's fight against fire brought an opportunity for the two countries to improve their strained ties, Xinhua reported.
Turkey would never turn down anybody who wants to fix relations in a friendly manner and was seeking peace and normalization of relations, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek was quoted by the semi-official Anatolia news agency as telling a press conference here.
While reiterating Turkey's call for apology and compensation for Israel's killing of eight Turkish citizens and an American of Turkish origin on a Gaza-bound aid ship this May, Cicek said Turkey never showed enmity against the Israeli people.
"What we are taking a stand against is wrong policies. We do not have a problem with the people of Israel or any other country, " he said.
Turkey sent two fire-fighting planes on Friday to help Israel fight its worst-ever forest fire that killed more than 40 people and raged an area of 50 square kilometers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the day and expressed his appreciation.
Turkey and Israel saw ties worsen after the May 31 Israeli raid of the Gaza-bound flotilla. Turkish government has demanded apology and compensation from Israel, which has failed to meet the call.
Cicek said there were still contacts between the two countries from time to time after the May 31 incident, the agency reported.