1 Jul 2010

Israeli, Turkish ministers hold secret talks

8:11 pm on 1 July 2010

Israel says it has held its first high-level meeting with Turkey since a row blew up between the former allies over Israel's killing of Turkish activists on an aid ship heading for Gaza.

An Israeli spokesperson told the BBC that the meeting had taken place in secret between the Turkish foreign minister and the Israeli trade minister - and that the meeting had been at Turkey's request,

Turkey, however, has not confirmed that.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has accused his Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of undermining his authority by arranging the meeting without telling him.

But Mr Netanyahu's office said the failure to notify the minister was merely due to "technical reasons".