In an apparent attempt to improve its relations with Tel Aviv, Turkey invited on Thursday an Israeli minister to a conference in Antalya next June.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu extended an official invitation to Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, who is close to Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, to attend a two-day international diplomatic conference in the Turkish city.
Steinitz was probably chosen over other ministers because he is overseeing the file of gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean and is currently managing an essential part of the Israeli policy to establish an alliance with Greece, Cyprus and Egypt to confront Turkey over its plans to reap a share of those reserves.
Cavusoglu’s invitation is the first to an Israeli minister since Turkey recalled its ambassador in Tel Aviv in May 2018, after violent protests on the Gaza border in which over 60 Palestinians were killed.
Israelis viewed the invitation as an attempt to warm relations with Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had himself sought improved relations five months ago when he said they needed to be repaired.
Turkey and Israel, once allies, have had a bitter falling out in recent years. Ankara has repeatedly condemned Israel's occupation of the West Bank and its treatment of Palestinians.
Erdogan portrays himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause and has provided political support to Hamas, the militant group that seized power from rival Palestinian forces in Gaza in 2007. A number of Hamas leaders are based in Turkey, and Erdogan met with the group's top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in December 2019.
Last month, the Israeli military said that it had conducted a joint naval exercise with Greece and Cyprus, in the latest sign of greater cooperation among the three countries that increasingly view Turkey as a rival in the Mediterranean.
