Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has received Israel’s new ambassador Irit Lillian, who presented her letter of credentials to him Tuesday and officially took her position in Ankara. For the past two years, Lillian served as chargé d'affaires at the embassy.
Bilateral relations between Ankara and Jerusalem have deteriorated considerably since Erdogan has been in office and particularly since the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla incident in which nine Turkish nationals were killed by IDF fire. Relations were partially restored after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized for the incident, but they deteriorated once again. In May 2018, in protest of the Israeli army’s response to rioting on the Gaza border, Turkey recalled its ambassador and asked Israel’s envoy Eitan Na’eh to leave. Following Na’eh's expulsion, Israel expelled the Turkish chargé d'affaires.
