The widow of an Israeli spy who was executed in Damascus over 40 years ago said on Tuesday Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had pledged to seek Turkish help to try to win the return of his remains from Syria.

Olmert heads to Turkey on Wednesday for talks with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, and Turkish officials say Ankara has offered to mediate talks between Syria and Israel.

Egyptian-born spy Eli Cohen infiltrated the Syrian government before he was discovered and hanged in 1965.

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The return of his body would be seen as a significant goodwill gesture in Israel and could potentially kick-start stalled peace talks between the two countries.

Cohen's 71-year-old widow, Nadia, said Olmert told her on Tuesday he would raise the issue during his meetings in Turkey. Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin declined to comment.

"Eli has already paid the full price and we have also served our punishment," Cohen told Reuters. "Syria has to give us Eli's body to be buried in our country. It will instill confidence."

Secular but Muslim Turkey is one of the few nations in the region which has cordial ties with both Israel and Syria. Israel has appealed in the past to Syria via European intermediaries for Cohen's body without success.

An official in Olmert's office, who declined to be named, said: "Israel sees it as a humanitarian issue ... and if Turkey could help that would be wonderful."

Syrian officials were not immediately available for comment.

Talks between Israel and Syria over the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War, collapsed in 2000 after Damascus insisted on regaining control of all the strategic piece of land.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has repeatedly signalled an interest in talks since Israel's inconclusive war last year in Lebanon with Syrian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas.

The situation has been complicated by U.S. charges that Syria supports Iraq insurgents, which Damascus denies, as well as Syria's open sponsorship of Palestinian militants.

Eisin said the issue of Syria would come up in the talks.

"There is no question that Israel would be very interested in peace with Syria, but the present Syrian government is not interested in peace, only in the peace process," she said.

Analysts and Turkish officials believe Turkey is unlikely to be able to spur any diplomatic movement on the issue.

"There is a kind of inertia," said former diplomat Alon Liel. "Olmert believes there is a clear majority of the public against withdrawing from the Golan Heights and he has enough political troubles now without adding this one."

Liel, who has held private talks with a Syrian-American businessman and has drafted an unofficial peace plan, said Syria would not make commitments on returning Cohen's remains until peace talks resumed.