Turkey and Israel have restored full diplomatic ties. Both countries will re-appoint each other’s ambassadors, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu said today.
“The appointment of an ambassador is one of the steps towards the normalization of relations. Such a positive step came from Israel as a result of these efforts and we, as Turkey, have also decided to appoint an ambassador to Israel, in Tel Aviv,” Cavusoglu asserted.
Speaking at a press conference in Ankara, he added that Turkey is starting a process to decide who will be appointed to the post.
Both countries expelled ambassadors in 2018 after Israeli forces killed 60 Palestinians during protests on the Gaza border against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Turkey in March, followed by visits by both foreign ministers, helped thaw relations after more than a decade of tensions.
The decision comes as Israel seeks to improve ties with regional powers and was agreed two years after the so-called Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Morocco.