Khaled Mashaal visited Turkey in 2006 at Israel's behest, so that the state could transfer messages to the Hamas politburo chief, former Deputy Prime Minister Abdüllatif Sener told the Today's Zaman newspaper in an interview Sunday.

More Conspiring? Turkey warns Israel against repeating 'flotilla mistake' Ynet Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urges Israel not to stop next Gaza-bound flotilla. 'The Mediterranean does not belong to any nation,' he says Turkey warns Israel against repeating 'flotilla mistake'

Sener, who resigned from Turkey's leading party to establish his own political movement, said Mashaal's visit was "planned at the behest of the Israeli government".

"The formal invitation was transferred to Mashaal after a secret agreement was struck between Turkey and Israel. I know for a fact the visit was organized at the Israeli's request," he said.

The Hamas leader's visit to Turkey was treated as an outrage by Israeli officials and many see it as the decisive turning point in relations that were up until then relatively friendly between the two states. Relations further deteriorated after nine Turkish civilians were killed in a raid on an aid ship to Gaza, the Mavi Marmara, in 2010.

But Sener claims the visit was actually a PR ploy intended to create the impression that Turkey was toughening its stance towards the Jewish state as a rising power in the Middle East and the entire world.

"The issue came up at a Cabinet meeting," Sener recounted. "Israel was very happy about the visit because Hamas had taken power in Gaza and this man is one of the strongest leaders in the organization."

'Livni asked to stop anti-Turkey comments'

Israel could not directly contact Hamas because it sees it as a terror organization, Sener explained. "Our relations with Hamas were suitable for Israel's plans because this way it could transfer some of its demands through Turkey."

At the time, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Turkey had summoned Mashaal in order to assist with Palestinian-Israeli coexistence.

Sener explained that when the Israeli ambassador criticized Turkey over the visit Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had called Israel's foreign minister at the time, Tzipi Livni, and asked her to tell him to stop.

"We made an agreement with you before Mashaal arrived. Tell your ambassador to stop the comments, that's enough," Sener quoted Erdogan as saying.

Thus, he said, the anti-Israeli sentiment in Turkish government has for the most part been falsely produced. "Most of the things are done out of mutual accord to help each other. It appears that Israel gave Turkey an open check to strike it in public, while Turkey has covertly made some significant concessions for Israel," Sener said.