Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyep Erdogan, has spurned attempts to improve relations with Israel, undertaken by the "richest Jew in the world", in his own words. The man was sent by Israel, claims the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

Turkish media reported that the intermediary is the American Jewish billionaire Ron Lauder, a close confidant of PM Binyamin Netanyahu. Sources in Netanyahu's office, however, said that "Lauder was not sent to Turkey by the PM."