Israeli President Invites Türkiye’s Erdogan to Visit, Receives Envoy 

Türkiye's ambassador to Israel Sakir Ozkan Torunlar (R), presents his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in Jerusalem, on January 11, 2023. (AFP)
Türkiye's ambassador to Israel Sakir Ozkan Torunlar (R), presents his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in Jerusalem, on January 11, 2023. (AFP)
TT

Israeli President Invites Türkiye’s Erdogan to Visit, Receives Envoy 

Türkiye's ambassador to Israel Sakir Ozkan Torunlar (R), presents his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in Jerusalem, on January 11, 2023. (AFP)
Türkiye's ambassador to Israel Sakir Ozkan Torunlar (R), presents his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in Jerusalem, on January 11, 2023. (AFP)

Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday invited his Turkish counterpart President Tayyip Erdogan to visit the country as he received Ankara's new ambassador in another token of the countries' recently warming ties. 

Last year, Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, was the first Israeli leader to visit Türkiye since 2008, after the two countries began restoring relations and ending a more than a decade-old diplomatic rift. 

They agreed to mutually appoint ambassadors in August and, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won an election in November, he and Erdogan agreed to keep improving ties. 

"I am sure we will all work to strengthen the countries' relations," Herzog said. 

Netanyahu's return to power at the head of a nationalist-religious government in December has rattled Palestinians and Western and Arab allies who fear it could heighten tensions in the Middle East. 

Türkiye last week joined a chorus of condemnation of a visit by Israel's new far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to the sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest site and Judaism's most sacred. 



Meloni Discusses With Trump Case of Italian Journalist Detained in Iran

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)
TT

Meloni Discusses With Trump Case of Italian Journalist Detained in Iran

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni surprised on Sunday her allies, both local and regional, after her plane landed at Miami International Airport from where she headed to the Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, to meet President-elect Donald Trump before his inauguration on Jan. 20.
Trump greeted her warmly. The two leaders met for an hour in the presence of Trump’s close aide Elon Musk, who has a close relationship with the Italian visitor.
Sources in the delegation that accompanied Meloni said the PM raised the case of detained Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was arrested in Iran last month on charges of espionage.
Meloni is trying to exchange the release of Sala for detained Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman, who was arrested at Milan's Malpensa airport on a US warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in an attack last January that killed three US service members in Jordan.