Desk Report
Publish: 09 Mar 2022, 05:52 pm
Israel's President Isaac Herzog || Photo: Collected
Israel's president left for
Turkey Wednesday to meet his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the first visit
by an Israeli head of state since 2007, as the countries seek to mend fractured
ties.
Israel's President Isaac Herzog's visit to
Ankara and Istanbul was in the making weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, but
the conflict could feature at the talks, with both Israel and Turkey playing
mediation roles in recent days.
But bilateral issues are likely
to dominate following more than a decade of diplomatic rupture between the
Jewish state and majority Muslim Turkey, a vocal supporter of the Palestinian
cause.
"We will not agree on
everything, and the relationship between Israel and Turkey has certainly known
ups and downs and not-so-simple moments in recent years," Herzog said
before departing.
"But we shall try to restart
our relations and build them in a measured and cautious manner," he added.
Major issues on the agenda for
the two-day trip will likely include gas sales to Europe, a topic that has
acquired added urgency amid the Ukraine conflict.
Relations froze after the death
of 10 civilians following an Israeli raid on the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship,
part of a flotilla trying to breach a blockade by carrying aid into the Gaza
Strip in 2010.
A 2016 reconciliation agreement
that saw the return of ambassadors all but collapsed in 2018 in the wake of
border clashes with Gaza, that saw dozens of Palestinians killed.
Turkey recalled its diplomats and
ordered Israel's envoy out of the country.
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