Israel pays $20 million compensation for Mavi Marmara victims, ambassadors to be appointed within 10 days
|File Photo


Israel has paid $20 million compensation to the Mavi Marmara incident victims as part of the recent Turkey-Israeli normalization deal.

According to the agreement, Israel was to pay $20 million as compensation for lives lost during the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla raid and Turkey would drop all cases against the incident. On Friday, Israel paid the amount into the Justice Ministry's account.

Meanwhile, Turkey and Israel will decide who to appoint as ambassadors in the next 10 days, a top Turkish official told Reuters.

Speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, the top official said that the two sides will simultaneously determine who will be the ambassadors in the next 10 days.

Both countries decided to appoint ambassadors after a six-year-long dispute due to the Mavi Marmara incident. Relations between Turkey and Israel declined in 2010 following an Israeli naval raid on a Turkish aid ship en route to delivering humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip. The raid killed 10 activists.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late August approved the normalization deal with Israel, which was recently passed by Parliament. The deal restored diplomatic relations between the two countries and is expected to further do so.

The Law No. 6743 regarding the approval of the agreement between the Republic of Turkey and the State of Israel over compensation has been submitted to the Prime Ministry for promulgation, a statement by the Presidency said.

Israeli soldiers will be exempt from legal and criminal responsibility and individual Israeli nationals also would not be held criminally or financially liable for the incident.

The deal was already approved in the Israeli Cabinet.