![\"Turkish](\"https:\/\/static-cdn.toi-media.com\/www\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ERdogan.jpg\" "\\"Turkish")
<\/a>\n\t\tTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with reporters outside the COP 21 United Nations conference on climate change, on the outskirts of Paris, November 30, 2015. (Times of Israel\/Raphael Ahren)<\/p>\n
The activists on board refused; nine Turks were killed and seven Israel Defense Forces soldiers were wounded in violence that erupted when the Israeli troops were attacked with clubs and iron bars as they boarded the vessel, and opened fire on their assailants. A 10th activist died of his wounds in 2014, after four years in a coma.<\/p>\n
The incident triggered a major diplomatic crisis between Ankara and Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n Ankara expelled the Israeli ambassador, demanded a formal apology and compensation and an end to the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the Islamist Palestinian terror group Hamas. Erdogan is a strong supporter of Hamas, and rejects the notion that it is a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n Talks on compensation began in 2013 after Israel extended a formal apology to Turkey in a breakthrough brokered by US President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n The Israeli government reportedly presented a deal to pay compensation to the families of the victims, but an agreement has not yet been forthcoming. Turkey said in June that it was holding talks with Israel over a deal to reconcile the two former allies.<\/p>\n
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