Israel and Turkey to Restore Full Diplomatic Ties

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Israel and Turkey to Restore Full Diplomatic Ties​

A four-year chill in relations has thawed in recent months, and the two nations, once close regional allies, will now exchange ambassadors again.

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The meeting in March of President Isaac Herzog of Israel, left, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey was a sign of their countries’ efforts to reset fractured relations.Credit...EPA, via Shutterstock

By Isabel Kershner
Aug. 17, 2022
JERUSALEM — After years of testy, on-again-off-again relations, Israel and Turkey announced on Wednesday that they were restoring full diplomatic ties and would be exchanging ambassadors again after not doing so for four years.
In recent signs of a thaw, Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, was received in March with pomp and ceremony by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey during a state visit that was described by both sides as an effort to reset the broken relations between the onetime regional allies. The visit was the highest-level meeting of an Israeli leader in Turkey in 14 years.
The resumption of relations with Turkey “is an important asset for regional stability and very important economic news for the citizens of Israel,” Israel’s interim prime minister, Yair Lapid, said in a statement on Wednesday, adding, “We will continue to strengthen Israel’s standing in the world.”
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Mr. Herzog’s trip in March was followed with a May visit by Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, to Israel, the first such trip in 15 years. And in June, Mr. Lapid visited Ankara, the Turkish capital, in his capacity as Israel’s foreign minister, in part to thank the Turkish authorities for their help in foiling what officials described as a recent Iranian plot to kidnap or kill Israeli nationals in Istanbul.

Mr. Lapid holds the office of acting prime minister in the caretaker government, with national elections scheduled for Nov. 1 — Israel’s fifth such vote in under four years. His office said that the restoration of full diplomatic relations with Turkey came in the wake of understandings reached during his visit to Ankara and a subsequent conversation with Mr. Erdogan.
Mr. Cavusoglu called the reappointment of Turkey’s ambassador to Israel “important in the development of bilateral relations.”
Once Israel’s closest friend in the Muslim world and a significant trading partner, Turkey cut diplomatic ties after a deadly confrontation in 2010 between Israeli commandos and Turkish activists on a passenger vessel that had tried to breach Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian coastal territory under the control of the Islamist militant group Hamas.

Image

An Israeli military speedboat near the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in 2010. A deadly confrontation between Israeli commandos and Turkish activists on the Mavi Marmara prompted Turkey to cut ties.Credit...Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The ship, the Mavi Marmara, was part of a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza when Israeli naval commandos rappelled onto its deck and killed nine activists after being met with violent resistance. A 10th activist later died of his wounds.
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Though some level of diplomatic ties had since been restored, Israeli-Turkish relations have in recent years had their ups and downs. The two countries resumed full diplomatic relations in 2016 after Israel agreed to pay about $20 million into a compensation fund for the families of those killed on the Mavi Marmara.
Turkey, in turn, dropped its criminal charges against the Israeli officers involved in the confrontation. Israel also asked the Turkish authorities to prevent Hamas operatives in Turkey from orchestrating attacks against Israel.
But that thaw did not last long. Another downturn came in late 2017, with President Donald J. Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Mr. Erdogan has championed the Palestinian cause and strongly criticized Israeli policy toward the Palestinians on various occasions. He has compared Israel to Nazi Germany and accused the Israelis of genocide after their forces killed scores of Palestinian protesters during clashes along the Gaza border fence in May 2018, on the day that the United States moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
After the border violence and killings, Turkey ordered Israel’s ambassador to leave the country and recalled the Turkish ambassador from Tel Aviv “for consultations.” Hours later, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that it had summoned Turkey’s consul general to Jerusalem and advised him to return to his country “for a while.” The break in high-level diplomatic representation lasted just over four years.

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Ivanka Trump, right, then a White House adviser, alongside Steven Mnuchin, then the Treasury secretary, unveiling a dedication plaque at the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in 2018.Credit...Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

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Mr. Erdogan has indicated a willingness for warmer ties for more than a year, after Naftali Bennett replaced Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister in June 2021, and once Mr. Herzog became president a month later. Mr. Erdogan has expressed a desire for Turkey to tap into Israel’s lucrative natural gas discoveries in the Mediterranean.

Israel, for its part, has recently shown an increasing interest in building closer regional ties with other strategic powers in the Mideast.
“Israel has a paramount interest in fully restoring its diplomatic ties with Turkey,” said Dore Gold, president of the Israeli think tank Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. In June 2016, Mr. Gold signed a normalization agreement with Turkey in his former role as director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
“Despite the setbacks in their relations in years past, both Israel and Turkey have shared concerns today about the spreading of Iranian influence in the Middle East, especially Iran’s quest for a nuclear weapons capability,” Mr. Gold noted.
Welcoming the announcement on Wednesday, Mr. Herzog said that the restoration of full diplomatic relations would “encourage greater economic relations, mutual tourism, and friendship between the Israeli and Turkish peoples.”
“Good neighborly relations and the spirit of partnership in the Middle East are important for us all,” he added.

Israel and Turkey to Restore Full Diplomatic Ties

A four-year chill in relations has thawed in recent months, and the two nations, once close regional allies, will now exchange ambassadors again.

www.nytimes.com

 

[cocomo]

Alhamdulillah

 

[Kedikesenfare2]

Turkey, Bharat and Israel will unite against Islamism!

 

[Foinikas]

Mr. Erdogan has indicated a willingness for warmer ties for more than a year

 

[dBSPL]

Nice progress btw. We do not let Erdogan go without making up for his past mistakes.

If Turkiye has diplomatic relations with Russia, if it has diplomatic relations with the USA; It must have diplomatic relations with the other countries of the region also, doesnt matter if its name Israel, Iraq, Greece, Albania, Egypt, Ukraine or Iran. Whether one is better or worse than the other is a different discussion and just politically populist approach.

The destruction of diplomatic relations between the two countries leads to the fact that third-party countries can direct the relationship between those two countries.

View attachment 871656

The UNSC stuck its head in the sand when the ship of a civil initiative was attacked in international waters. No international organization has taken concrete steps against Israel's blockade. IHH's quixotic act was unnecessary enough.

Because Palestine is under Israeli blockade. You cannot bring any meaningful social service or aid into most parts of Palestine without Israeli control.

Even building materials and medical equipment are within this scope. This blockade is the fault of the UN, not Turkiye's. Turkiye has also no historical responsibility towards this region, because the Arabs preferred to cooperate with the British. Despite this, we are one of the leading countries in humanitarian aid to Palestine(probably more than all Arab countries) and we have openly declared that we are a party to the Palestinian problem from the perspective of the UN solution based on the 1967 borders. Israel also knows Turkiye's clear position.

 

[Foinikas]

Because Palestine is under Israeli blockade. You cannot bring any meaningful social service or aid into most parts of Palestine without Israeli control.

Come on,you believe that Erdoğan did that for the Palestinians? Come on! I know you're not crazy!

Look,it's logical for a country to want good diplomatic relations with other countries,but when he goes around trying to act like the Amir al Mumineen,one day condemning Israel and the next day thanking them,it's ridiculous.

 

[dBSPL]

Come on,you believe that Erdoğan did that for the Palestinians? Come on! I know you're not crazy!

Look,it's logical for a country to want good diplomatic relations with other countries,but when he goes around trying to act like the Amir al Mumineen,one day condemning Israel and the next day thanking them,it's ridiculous.

No. If you examine the original statment, it is said that the resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel is a factor that will strengthen the help to Palestine. This could be a political mediation position. Or, in any case, it means an exponential increase in humanitarian aid and services to Palestine.

However, instead of dealing with the content as always, you are trying to create perception with newspaper headlines and selected photos.

 

[Foinikas]

No. If you examine the original statment, it is said that the resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel is a factor that will strengthen the help to Palestine. However, instead of dealing with the content as always, you are trying to create perception with newspaper headlines and selected photos.

I'm bashing Erdoğan's hypocrisy,not Turkey as a country or nation. He's not into helping or saving the Palestinians,but getting profit out of cooperating with Israel.

 

[dBSPL]

I'm bashing Erdoğan's hypocrisy,not Turkey as a country or nation. He's not into helping or saving the Palestinians,but getting profit out of cooperating with Israel.

Common interests and areas of conflict determine relations between states. I personally do not accept that the Palestinian issue enslaves relations with Israel. Because this creates a reaction and causes complications in other parts of your national interests. An example of this is the historical rapprochement between Greece and Israel.

This does not mean that I approve of Israeli policy, but I believe that isolationism is an outdated political concept, If you study recent world history, the consequences of such policies will sooner or later leading to war. Despite all the disagreements in the region, I am part of the minority that advocates for an action based on (even if limited) common interests.

 

[Foinikas]

This does not mean that I approve of Israeli policy, but I believe that isolationism is an outdated political concept, If you study recent world history, the consequences of such policies will sooner or later leading to war.

Of course it's not good,see for example how the West has been acting against Russia since the war started etc.
It's one of USA's dumb policies that has been going on for ages. For example with Iran,Venezuela,Cuba etc.

 

[HttpError]

Stupid Pakistanis should learn something from Turkey.

 

[-=virus=-]

Stupid Pakistanis should learn something from Turkey.

and by which you mean to say Pak and India should look beyond the Kashmir thing and get along ? oO

 

[LakeHawk180]

Stupid Pakistanis should learn something from Turkey.

 

[HttpError]

and by which you mean to say Pak and India should look beyond the Kashmir thing and get along ? oO

I mean if something better can be achieved for the people then they should certainly look into possible solutions. Both sides should accept the realities.

 

[aziqbal]

Stupid Pakistanis should learn something from Turkey.

what kind of slave are you ? a type 3 or type 4?

no wonder Pakistan is in this state because of low life brown nosers like you