- Israel will have an ambassador in Turkey.
- It will mark the most recent development in the thawing of tensions.
- Israel’s foreign ministry announced on Monday.
For the first time in four years, Israel will have an ambassador in Turkey, marking the most recent development in the thawing of tensions between the two nations.
Israel’s foreign ministry announced on Monday that Irit Lillian, a senior diplomat who has overseen the Israeli embassy in Ankara for the past two years, will serve as the ambassador.
Turkey expelled its ambassador from Israel in 2018 and gave the Israeli envoy the order to do the same in retaliation for Israel’s killing of several Palestinians during demonstrations near the Gaza border.
After the election of Recep Tayyip Erdogan as prime minister in 2003, a vocal opponent of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, the once-warm relations started to sour.
Shimon Peres, a former Israeli prime minister, was harshly reprimanded by the current president of Turkey while speaking on stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2009.
When an Israeli ship broke through an Israeli embargo to deliver humanitarian goods to the Gaza Strip, which is governed by Hamas, tensions reached a crescendo in 2010. There were nine Turkish activists who died.
However, as regional alignments have changed, the two nations have recently made an effort to repair their strained ties.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Erdogan in Turkey in March as a start toward reconciliation.
Mevlut Cavusoglu, the foreign minister of Turkey, visited Jerusalem in late May, beginning what his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid called a “new chapter” in their mutual relations.
Then, in June, Israel and Turkey made a formal announcement on the restoration of full diplomatic ties, which included an ambassadorial exchange.
In an effort to reassure the Palestinians, Erdogan stated in August that improving relations with Israel will not diminish support for Palestine.
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