Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday that his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog might arrive in Turkey soon on an official state visit.
“We are holding talks with Israeli President Herzog,’’ T24 cited Erdoğan as saying during a press conference in Ankara following a meeting with his Serbian counterpart. “Mr. Herzog may be visiting Turkey.’’
Erdoğan’s remarks arrive amid a thaw in relations between the two countries following a decade of tensions. Once strong allies, relations between Israel and Turkey deteriorated after the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident when Israeli commandos killed 10 Turkish citizens trying to enter Gaza by sea. The two countries expelled each other’s ambassadors in 2018.
“Politics is not a struggle, we must take politics to a line of peace,” Eroğan said.
Erdoğan on Tuesday also referred to the idea of the two nations, both located on the coasts of the gas-rich Mediterranean, signing an energy deal, Euronews Turkish reported.
Tensions have been mounting in the eastern Mediterranean between countries vying for the vast deposits of natural gas.
Greece, Israel, and Cyprus in January 2020 signed an Eastern Mediterranean (EastMed) natural gas pipeline project, planned to run from Israel to Southern Cyprus, Crete, Greece, and ultimately to Italy. Turkey has long opposed the project.
Diplomatic correspondent for the Jerusalem Post Lahav Harkov confirmed that Israel was talks with Ankara for Herzog’s visit, citing sources in Jerusalem, but noted that such a move would not arrive at the expense of Israel’s alliance with Greece and Cyprus.
Moreover, “Turkey make the visit sound a lot more final than it really is,” she cited the sources as saying.
Ahval`