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Turkey, Israel to Form Crisis Cell

Israeli President Isaac Herzog visits the Great Neve Shalom Synagogue in central Istanbul (AFP)
Israeli President Isaac Herzog visits the Great Neve Shalom Synagogue in central Istanbul (AFP)
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Turkey, Israel to Form Crisis Cell

Israeli President Isaac Herzog visits the Great Neve Shalom Synagogue in central Istanbul (AFP)
Israeli President Isaac Herzog visits the Great Neve Shalom Synagogue in central Istanbul (AFP)

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.

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US will 'Walk Away' Unless Russia, Ukraine Agree Deal, Says Vance

A Ukrainian armoured vehicle in a village near the front line in the Dnipropetrovsk region - AFP
A Ukrainian armoured vehicle in a village near the front line in the Dnipropetrovsk region - AFP
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US will 'Walk Away' Unless Russia, Ukraine Agree Deal, Says Vance

A Ukrainian armoured vehicle in a village near the front line in the Dnipropetrovsk region - AFP
A Ukrainian armoured vehicle in a village near the front line in the Dnipropetrovsk region - AFP

Vice President JD Vance warned Wednesday that the United States would "walk away" unless Russia and Ukraine agree a peace deal, as envoys from Washington, Kyiv and European nations gathered for downgraded talks in Britain.

"We've issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it's time for them to either say 'yes', or for the United States to walk away from this process," Vance told reporters in India.

US media reported that President Donald Trump was ready to accept recognition of annexed land in Crimea as Russian territory, and Vance said land swaps would be fundamental to any deal, AFP reported.

"That means the Ukrainians and the Russians are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own," he added.
The reports said the proposal was first raised at a meeting with European nations in Paris last week.

The latest round of diplomacy comes amid a fresh wave of Russian air strikes that shattered a brief Easter truce.

A Russian drone strike on a bus transporting workers in the southeastern city of Marganets killed nine people and wounded at least 30 more, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor said Wednesday.

Ukrainian authorities also reported strikes in the regions of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava and Odesa.

In Russia, one person was reported wounded by shelling in the Belgorod region.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy had been due to lead a meeting of foreign ministers in London on Wednesday, but his ministry said the talks had been downgraded, a sign of the difficulties surrounding the negotiations.

"The Ukraine Peace Talks meeting with Foreign Ministers today is being postponed. Official-level talks will continue," the Foreign Office said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "as far as we understand, it has not yet been possible to reconcile positions on any issues, which is why this meeting did not take place".

US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg is still expected to attend, along with Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron.

Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said he had arrived in London with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga, who is "likely" to meet Lammy.

"Despite everything, we will work for peace," Yermak wrote on Telegram.

A Ukraine presidency source later told AFP that the delegation would meet with Kellogg, and that "there will be more meetings with Europeans, different meetings".

US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff is to visit Moscow this week.

According to The Financial Times, President Vladimir Putin told Witkoff he was prepared to halt the invasion and freeze the current front line if Russia's sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula, annexed in 2014, was recognized.

Peskov responded by saying that "a lot of fakes are being published at the moment", according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

Zelensky said Tuesday that his country would be ready for direct talks with Russia only after a ceasefire, though the Kremlin has said it cannot rush into a ceasefire deal.

Trump promised on the campaign trail to strike a deal between Moscow and Kyiv in 24 hours but has since failed to secure concessions from Putin to halt his troops in Ukraine.

He said at the weekend he hoped an agreement could be struck "this week".

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had presented a US plan to end the war and discussed it with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during a phone conversation after the Paris meeting last week.

Both Rubio and Trump have warned since that the United States could walk away from peace talks unless it saw quick progress.

Trump "wants to see this war end... and he has grown frustrated with both sides of this war, and he's made that very known", his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.

Rubio had said in Paris he would go to London if he thought his attendance could be useful.

But Lammy wrote on X late Tuesday that he had instead had a "productive call" with Rubio.

Trump proposed an unconditional ceasefire in March, the principle of which was accepted by Kyiv but rejected by Putin.

The White House welcomed a separate agreement by both sides to halt attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days, but the Kremlin has said it considers that moratorium to have expired.