Israel's latest offensive in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians, has brought relations to rock-bottom, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's remarks culminating with his walking out of a panel discussion with Israeli President Shimon Peres last week during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.
There is now news coming from both capitals that there are secret diplomatic efforts under way to mend the seriously damaged ties, though it is hard to know how exactly they will be repaired.
Israeli and Turkish officials are engaged in behind-the-scenes discussions aimed at easing tensions between the two countries in the wake of Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media have reported.
Shalom Turgeman, an adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, is said to be holding talks with an aide of the Turkish prime minister, in an attempt to improve the relations between Jerusalem and Ankara.
Though it was the Turkish side which triggered the current serious downturn in relations, Ankara has, however, refrained from taking any serious steps against Israel, such as the halting of the military, political and commercial relations that have developed between the two countries.
In a recent interview with the Turkish-language Newsweek magazine, Erdoğan admitted that Turkey and Israel have a "serious" relationship, indicating that he did not wish to destroy the relationship. He, however, said the current Israeli government should control itself and that the Israeli government should not exploit this issue for the upcoming elections in Israel.
As a matter of fact, Erdoğan's harsh remarks to Israel have also been partially linked to Turkey's own crucial local elections due to be held in late March.
But regardless of the efforts currently said to have been forged between the two nations to mend ties, considerable damage has already been done.
How the damage will be repaired will be up to the future policies of both countries.
However, repairing the damage will be in the interest of both countries and Erdoğan's statement that Turkey and Israel have a serious relationship gives us a clue that Ankara does not see it as in its interests to maintain tense relations with its Middle Eastern neighbor.
Turkey was among the first countries to recognize Israel as a state in 1948, when this Jewish state declared its statehood. But the normalization of relations only began when then-Turkish Foreign Minister Hikmet Çetin visited the country in July 1993 -- the first high-level Turkish visit to Israel.
Çetin's visit to the country also marked the beginning of a period when Ankara would not allow its relations with Israel to be hijacked by Arab countries. Çetin's visit thus marked a shift in Turkish foreign policy, from one that was "mortgaged" by Arabs to one that was relieved of Arab pressure.
Çetin's visit was followed by historic military and defense industry relations being established with the signing of two separate agreements in 1996. But the military agreements became possible only when Turkey's politically powerful military pushed the then Islamic-oriented coalition government to seal the deal.
Therefore, it may also be possible that the current Turkish government, with an Islamic orientation, may be refraining from suspending military ties in reaction to Israel's offensive in Gaza due to advice coming from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) not to do so.
It is also possible that, independent of any military suggestions, Erdoğan does not see any benefit to the suspension of military and, in particular, defense industry ties, since the latter ensures high technology transfer to Turkey. This is despite the fact that some Turkish defense industrialists have expressed their dissatisfaction over Israel's failures to transfer some of the technology that is required.
Erdoğan will also know naturally, as a prime minister, that the level of cooperation in intelligence matters between the two countries may keep him from taking any retaliatory measures against Israel over Gaza.
Nevertheless, there have been many examples in the world where sanctions, contrary to logic, inflict serious damage on the country that imposes them.
Some Israeli media organizations have started talking about the imposition of sanctions against Turkey, such as not selling technology to Turkey. If Turkish-Israeli relations can be normalized, I am not of the opinion that the Israeli government will take any such measure, since it will mean losing its ally in the region.
During the heyday of Turkish-Israeli military relations there were talks, with the backing of the US, about making efforts to encourage disarmament in the Middle East, an area that has not been signed up to any arms-control agreements.
Strong Turkish-Israeli relations have the potential to make this idea a reality. Thus Turkey and Israel have both mutual and regional interests in repairing the current damage.
