Jewish State (28 March 1949). Israel was a major supplier of arms to Turkey. Military, strategic, and diplomatic cooperation between Turkey and Israel were given high priority by the governments of both countries, which shared concerns with respect to regional instabilities in the Middle East. Relations have been strained since the turn of the 20th to 21st century as a result of the political decline in Turkey of forces based on the secular Kemalist ideology and the corresponding rise of the Justice and Development Party (AK party) of prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In February 2006, relations between Turkey and Israel suffered when Turkey hosted a delegation from the Palestinian group Hamas, although on a formal visit to Turkey in 2006, the Israeli then Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni stated that "Bilateral relations [between Turkey and Israel] are excellent. Not only on a leader-to-leader level but also on a people-to-people level". In January 2009, the Turkish government's condemnation of the 2008–09 Gaza War severely strained relations between the two countries. Erdoğan harshly criticized Israel's conduct in Gaza at the World Economic Forum conference in Davos, Switzerland in early 2009. Relations between the two countries were further strained after the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid. On 2 September 2011, Turkey downgraded ties with Israel to second secretary level and suspended military co-operation between the countries. Turkey demanded an apology from Israel over the flotilla incident, which Israel was interested in providing, but Turkey also demanded Israel end its blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, which Israel has stated is a non-possibility. After some diplomatic activity by U.S. President Barack Obama, Israeli PM Netanyahu did issue an apology over the flotilla events and Israel and Turkey agreed on financial compensation; in return, Turkey dropped its demand that the Gaza Strip blockade end and also removed state support from several lawsuits in Turkey that demanded the arrest and trial of Israeli military and political leaders who were in charge in 2010 during the flotilla incident. Turkey's numerous regional problems, ranging from the coup that ousted the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt in 2013 and the increasingly disruptive effects of its border from the Syrian conflict, were the main reason for this general improvement in relations, as Ankara wanted more stability and allies than it had when Erdogan had initiated his plans years earlier to move Turkey away from the pro-Israel (and generally pro-West and/or pro-EU)