Israel still cool to gestures from Turkey
In a positive, yet cautious signal, Israel has nominated senior diplomat ambassador Irit Lillian as charge d’Affairs to its embassy in Ankara.
Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi assigned Ambassador Irit Lillian to the position of charge d’affaires at the Israeli Embassy in Ankara on Feb. 4. The spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry told Al-Monitor that since the position is a temporary one, Ashkenazi could decide this on his own, without dealing with a nomination committee and without receiving government approval, as is the procedure for regular ambassadorial positions.
Lillian will be replacing Roey Gilad, who left Ankara Dec. 31. She had served before as ambassador to Bulgaria and is considered one of the ministry’s top diplomats; she is highly professional and an expert on Turkey. As such, her appointment to Ankara — even if temporary — is a positive signal for Turkey in that Israel is interested in rehabilitating bilateral ties.
Still, it is a very cautious positive signal. At the beginning of December, Ankara appointed a new ambassador to Israel, after two years of absence. Turkey’s new ambassador, Ufuk Ulutas, has studied Hebrew in Jerusalem. He is not a career diplomat, but an expert on the region and apparently appreciated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But even after this decision by Erdogan, Israel did not appoint a new ambassador to Ankara. Rather, the embassy is to continue to operate as it did for the past two years — without a permanent head of mission.
Interestingly, already before the appointment of Ulutas, Ankara made several moves carrying a message of rapprochement. On Dec. 7, the Moshe Dayan Institute in Tel Aviv published an exceptional article, titled "Israel is Turkey’s neighbor across the sea: delimitation of the maritime jurisdiction areas between Turkey and Israel." Co-written by retired Adm. professor Cihat Yayci, a close associate of Erdogan, the article suggested that the two countries discuss delimiting marine frontiers anew.
