Israeli President Shimon Peres said he hopes his country and Turkey will “find a solution” to rising tensions between the two nations.

“Turkey is a country of difference,” Peres said today at the Yalta European Strategy conference in Ukraine. “I respect this difference. I am not going into personalities.”

Relations between the two deteriorated this month after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded an apology for the killing of Turkish activists on a flotilla headed to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip last year, expelled the Israeli ambassador, halted defense purchases and announced plans to send more warships to the eastern Mediterranean. He also said he may visit Gaza.

During his trip to Egypt on Sept. 13, Erdogan said that Turks and Arabs have an “historic” chance to work together toward a common future and help support a Palestinian bid for statehood, Bloomberg reported.