Turkey demands Israeli apology for flotilla incident

Normal relations between Turkey and Israel are "unthinkable" until Israel apologizes for the nine Turks killed when Israeli troops stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, Prime Miniser Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, Reuters reports.

Speaking just days before the submission of a UN report on the raid in May last year, Erdogan said Turkey would never forget the nine men and condemned the continuing blockade of Gaza as "illegal and inhuman."

"Unless Israel officially apologizes for its unlawful action which is against international laws and humanitarian values, pays compensation for the families of those who lost their lives and lifts its embargo on Gaza, normalization of relations between the two countries is unthinkable," he said.

Still Israel is not going to applogize, the country's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday, The Jeruslaem Post reports.

"Israel has no reason to apologize to Turkey. Improving relations with Turkey is in the interests of both countries, but this should not come only at the cost of Israeli interests," Lieberman said.