Erdogan says Israeli apology shows Turkey's new clout

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday an Israeli apology for the 2010 deaths of nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists that was brokered by U.S. President Barack Obama met Turkey's conditions and signalled its growing regional clout.

"We are entering a new period in both Turkey and the region," said Erdogan, who plans to visit the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip, next month.

"We are at the beginning of a process of elevating Turkey to a position so that it will again have a say, initiative and power, as it did in the past."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a phone call on Friday, agreed to meet Turkey's three conditions for normalising relations, Erdogan said, though Israel's steps stopped short of Turkey's calls to lifts its blockade of Gaza.

These were a clear apology, compensation to the victims' families and a relaxation of the Gaza blockade, Erdogan told a rally broadcast live from the western town of Eskisehir.

Israel bowed to a demand by Ankara to apologise formally for the deaths nearly three years ago aboard the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish vessel carrying humanitarian aid and challenging Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu said a visit by Obama who left Israel on Friday had "created a political opportunity to resolve the crisis".

The Turkish leader said Netanyahu had told him restrictions on consumer goods reaching Gaza and the West Bank would also be lifted and pledged to seek Turkish help in improving humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territories.