Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday concluded his visit to Turkey, where he received a warm welcome from his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who described the visit as a “historic step” and a turning point in relations between his country and Israel.
While Erdogan welcomed the visit, opposition parties and civil organizations protested the visit against the backdrop of the 2010 MV Mavi Marmara incident.
Israel had killed ten Turkish nationals in the Mediterranean for participating in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.
Sources from the delegation accompanying Herzog revealed that Ankara and Tel Aviv had agreed to form a “crisis cell,” headed by the Director-General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and chief adviser to the Turkish president and presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin.
According to media reports, Turkey and Israel agreed to make contacts as soon as any crisis occurred that might negatively affect the relations of the two countries. This policy had proven successful in the incident of an Israeli couple who were detained in Turkey months ago on charges of espionage and photographing one of Erdogan’s residences in Istanbul.
Herzog once again called for restricting the activity of the Palestinian Hamas movement on Turkish soil, sources revealed.
The same sources said that the Israeli president found Erdogan open to a real dialogue and discussed with him a series of issues whose practical effects on the ground will be examined.
The most feasible option for natural gas transmission from the East Mediterranean to Europe is through Turkey’s pipeline network, Oded Eran, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University and Israel’s former Ambassador to Jordan and the EU told Anadolu Agency (AA).
“The various conflicts, including the 12-year rift between Turkey and Israel, prevented the exploration of this option and made Israel look for alternatives,” Eran said in an exclusive interview with AA.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Turkey on Wednesday, the first by an Israeli head of state in many years, is seen as a step towards moving from a period of strained ties to improved bilateral relations.
