After a decade of turbulence, Israel and Turkey announced on Wednesday the full restoration of their diplomatic relations, cold since the case of the Mavi Marmara ship, stormed by the Israeli army in 2010. Ankara also assured that it wanted to ” continue to defend” the Palestinians.
An important diplomatic turning point for these two heavyweights in the cold for twelve years. Israel announced on Wednesday August 17 the full restoration of diplomatic relations with Turkey and the return of ambassadors to both countries. If this is a final twist in the stormy relations between the two countries in recent years, in truth, the rapprochement had been underway for a little over a year already: with the coming to power, in June 2021, of a new coalition in Israel, Ankara took the opportunity to soften the tone against the Jewish state.
“It was decided to raise the level of ties between the two countries to full diplomatic relations and to return the ambassadors and consuls general to the two countries”Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement released after the telephone conversation he had with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “The restoration of relations with Turkey is an important asset for regional stability and very important economic news for the citizens of Israel”he added.
Turkey says it remains committed to “the Palestinian cause”
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu insisted that Turkey “would not abandon the Palestinian cause”.
Bilateral relations between Israel and Ankara were strained in 2010 with the Mavi Marmara affair, when Israeli forces launched a deadly assault on this Turkish ship trying to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave. under Israeli blockade. The two countries then recalled their ambassadors in 2018 after the deaths of Palestinian protesters in Gaza.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has often castigated Israeli policies towards the Palestinians.
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Israel and Turkey have recently welcomed a turning point in their relations, with in particular the visit of President Isaac Herzog in March to Turkey, the first of an Israeli head of state since 2007 in this country. The head of Turkish diplomacy had made a rare visit to Jerusalem at the end of May as part of this diplomatic thaw.
On the Turkish diplomatic front, on August 5, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to strengthen energy and economic cooperation, following their meeting in Sochi, in southern Russia. “Today, of course, the eyes of the whole world are on Sochi”then rejoiced the Turkish leader, haloed by his status as an essential mediator between Moscow and kyiv.