MONITORING DESK
ISLAMABAD: In a token of warming ties between Israel and Turkiye, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday extended an invitation to his Turkish counterpart President Tayyip Erdogan to visit the country. Herzog make these comments as he received Ankara’s new ambassador.
In 2022, Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial role, was the first Israeli leader to visit Turkiye since 2008. The visit followed as both countries began restoring relations and ending a more than ten-year-old diplomatic rift.
Turkish President Erdogan agreed to improve ties
In August, they had agreed to appoint ambassadors. After Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won the election in November, he and Erdogan agreed to keep improving relations.
Herzog stated that “we will all work” to boot the ties between the two countries.
In December, Netanyahu returned to power to head of government with nationalist and religious ideologies, which has rattled Palestinians along with Western and Arab regional allies who worry that it could escalate tensions in the Middle East.
However, Turkiye last week joined the collective condemnation of a visit by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the Al Aqsa Mosque complex. Ben-Gvir is a far-right politician.
