By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Monday hailed the peace deal between Eritrea and Ethiopia which aims at the normalization of relations interrupted since 1998.

"We believe this peace agreement, which will contribute to the prosperity and well-being of the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea, will also serve peace and stability in East Africa," the ministry said in a statement.

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed the deal on Sunday in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993, and from 1998 to 2000 the two countries fought a bloody war in which an estimated 70,000 people perished on both sides.