Israel announced on Wednesday (17) that diplomatic relations with Turkey have been fully restored and that its ambassadors to both countries have returned. Despite the rapprochement between the two countries, Turkey says it will not “abandon the Palestinian cause”.
“We will not abandon the Palestinian cause,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said at a press conference after Israel announced that diplomatic relations with Ankara were fully restored.
After years of strained relations between Mediterranean countries, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid confirmed his government’s determination. “It has been decided to once again raise the level of relations between the two countries to the level of full diplomatic relations and to send the ambassadors and consul generals of both countries back,” Lapid said in a statement. He also hailed the diplomatic breakthrough as “an important asset for regional stability and very important economic news for Israeli citizens.”
The Israeli government did not immediately announce when its ambassador would be sent to Ankara.
History of strained relationships
The announcement comes after months of bilateral efforts to improve relations between Israel and Turkey. Ties between the two countries began to break after Israel’s military operation in Gaza in 2008. Relations were frozen when 10 civilians were killed in an attack by Israel in 2010 on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a flotilla trying to break the blockade to bring aid to Gaza.
A 2016 reconciliation agreement involving the return of ambassadors effectively collapsed between 2018 and 2019, when more than 200 Gazans were shot dead by Israeli forces during border protests. The incident led to the recall of the ambassadors.
Israeli President’s visit marks a new stage
During Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s historic visit to Ankara in March this year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared the meeting “a turning point in relations.”
Isaac Herzog was received by his Turkish counterpart fourteen years later without a senior Israeli official visiting Turkey. The Turkish president said he wants to open a “new avenue in relations” between the two countries on the ground of energy cooperation, and especially against a gas pipeline project in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Jewish state, on the other hand, hoped to de-escalate tensions with its larger regional neighbor.
(with information from AFP)
source: Noticias
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