Israeli President set for first official visit to Turkey in 15 years
Israeli President Isaac Herzog visits Ankara on March 9.
President Isaac Herzog is set to travel to Turkey March 9 for a first official visit in 15 years. The visit comes after two years of persistent attempts by Ankara for rapprochement. At first, Jerusalem was sceptic over the intentions of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Now, it seems, it has decided to accept them as is, and move on full speed with efforts to rehabilitate ties. That being said, neither country has announced so far its intention to reinstall its ambassador back to Ankara/Jerusalem. If the visit goes well, the two presidents might announce this jointly.
While Herzog will be in Ankara, Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) will hold a special conference, livestreamed, on the future of Israel-Turkey relations. Ambassador Mark Regev and Gallia Lindenstrauss, senior research fellow at INSS, will moderate the event — titled "Winds of Change: Where are Turkey-Israel relations headed?" — hosting prominent Israel and Turkish experts.
Erdogan announced Herzog’s visit Feb. 3, stating, “We will exert efforts to move our bilateral relations to a very different place. I can tell that they also have the same approach. We will carry out the preliminary work and then start the process.”
The two presidents have spoken four times since Herzog took office on July 7, 2021, including a condolence phone call from Erdogan after Herzog's mother died. On Jan. 20, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu phoned his Israeli counterpart, Yair Lapid, wishing him well after contracting the coronavirus. A strong sign of rapprochement came already last November, with Erdogan playing the central role behind the release of Israeli couple Mordi and Natali Oknin who were detained in Istanbul. After the release, both Herzog and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called Erdogan to thank him.
