Thomas Seibert from The National is reporting:

Even in the midst of a deep political crisis between Turkey and Israel, there are songs to be sung - loudly and backed by the screech of distorted guitars.

Kobi Farhi sings those kind of songs.

He fronts the Israeli heavy metal band ORPHANED LAND, which has been playing Turkey for the past ten years.

Despite the Israeli ambassador in Ankara being expelled and relations between the two countries being downgraded every year for the past four, Mr Farhi and his band mates have applied for Turkish citizenship. They hope to hear by the end of the month. Band members intend to keep their Israeli passports.

Ties between long-time allies Turkey and Israel became strained after Israel's military action in the Gaza Strip in late 2008 and plunged deeper into crisis two years ago when Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish activists in a raid on the Mavi Marmara, a ship carrying aid for Palestinians in Gaza. Turkey wants Israel to formally apologise for the incident and pay damages to the relatives of the victims, demands rejected by Israel.

The crisis shows no sign of being solved anytime soon. On November 6, a Turkish court is scheduled to begin hearing a criminal case brought by prosecutors against high-ranking Israeli officials accused of ordering the raid on the Mavi Marmara. According to Turkish news reports, Israel has said it will not provide a defence team for the accused, who will be tried in absentia and face life sentences if convicted.

"It is an unfortunate story, and it is a lesson of how easy [it is] to ruin a friendship and how hard it is to rebuild it," Mr Farhi said about the Mavi Marmara incident. He was responding to email questions. "You can say that in many ways, these days we are the only ambassadors of Israel in Turkey. We hope and pray for more understanding and better days."

Read more at The National.