Return of diplomats: Israel and Turkey are getting closer

Status: 08/17/2022 2:47 p.m

For years, Turkish-Israeli relations have been on hold. Now diplomats from both countries are to return – according to Israel, the result of talks with Turkish President Erdogan.

Israel and Turkey want to fully resume diplomatic relations. Both countries have decided to reinstate ambassadors and consuls-general, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Jair Lapid said.

This was the result of Lapid’s visit to Ankara in June and a conversation with the Turkish head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan – Lapid also wrote on Twitter. The relationship between the two Mediterranean countries had been strained for years.

“The resumption of relations with Turkey is an important win for regional stability and important economic news for Israeli citizens,” Lapid said, according to his office. Israel’s position will continue to be strengthened worldwide.

Discord over the Gaza conflict

The re-establishment of full diplomatic relations is the continuation of a rapprochement process over the past year, it said. This began with a visit to the Turkish capital by the Israeli President-elect Izchak Herzog, who was elected last year, and then continued with mutual visits by the foreign ministers to Jerusalem and Ankara.

In May, Herzog was the first Israeli president to travel to Turkey in ten years. The once close allies Turkey and Israel fell out in 2010 after ten Turkish citizens were killed when the Israeli navy stormed a Gaza solidarity ship.

In 2016 there was a first rapprochement. However, since the Gaza crisis in 2018, which escalated around the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, the two countries have had no ambassadors in each other’s countries.

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