Under the prisoner swap deal, 1,027 Palestinian prisoners will be released in return for a captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official on Tuesday confirmed earlier reports that Turkey will take in some of the Palestinian prisoner, but did not give the exact number. Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency reported that 30 prisoners will be deported to Syria, Qatar and Jordan and that 10 will be deported to Turkey.
“Ankara's decision to take in the prisoners shows the good connections Turkey has with Hamas,” the Israeli daily quoted one Israeli government official, who argued that “it was clear that Hamas viewed Turkey as a trustworthy, reliable ally.”
“Both Syria and Qatar have close ties with Hamas and grouping Turkey with those two other countries says something about Turkish-Hamas relations,” he added. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said last week that Turkey was informed about the deal by Hamas ahead of the agreement, adding that Turkey expressed support for the deal.
Turkey's role in efforts to work out an agreement on the prisoner swap came despite a political crisis in its relations with Israel, sparked by a deadly takeover of a Turkish aid ship in May 2010 by Israeli commandos that resulted in the deaths of eight Turks and a Turkish-American. Israeli President Shimon Peres said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was involved in securing the deal and added that he was “pleasantly surprised” by Turkey's help in securing Shalit's release.
