Israel's new man in Ankara could be in for bumpy ride
The choice of prominent diplomat Eitan Naeh as Israel’s ambassador to Turkey is a clear sign of the importance his government places on fixing the relationship, but though he's being magnanimously received in Turkey, he'll have his hands full clearing the path to normalization.
Israel’s newly named ambassador to Ankara likely heaved a sigh of relief as he perused the headlines in Turkey on Nov. 16. The virulently anti-Semitic Yeni Safak recorded Eitan Naeh’s appointment on its front page in determinedly neutral prose.
Islamist newspapers such as Yeni Akit and Dirilis Postasi ignored the news altogether, a telling silence indicating that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s militant base has digested his decision to end six years of diplomatic froideur with Israel.
The choice of Naeh, who served as Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan and is currently the No. 2 at the Israeli mission in London, is an unmistakable sign of the importance his government places on fixing the relationship.
Naeh is counted among the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s finest and has been at the forefront of a quiet campaign to reach out to Muslim countries that continue to shun the Jewish state. Naeh also served in Ankara in the 1990s and left a very positive mark.
