Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, will pay an official visit to Turkey next February.
Erdogan said during a television interview yesterday evening, Wednesday, that Israel has taken some steps related to cooperation in the eastern Mediterranean, and that Turkey, in turn, is ready to take the necessary steps with it.
The Turkish president considered that a new chapter in relations between his country and Israel will open with this visit, stressing that Ankara sees it as a positive development.
He indicated that Herzog will visit Turkey during the first half of next February, without specifying the day.
The rapprochement between the two sides began weeks ago through phone calls that took place between Erdogan and Israeli officials.
The Turkish president said last week that he was ready to cooperate with Israel on a natural gas pipeline project in the eastern Mediterranean.
Relations between Turkey and Israel have been strained since 2010, when Israeli forces killed a number of Turkish activists during their attack on the Turkish ship “Mavi Marmara”, which was seeking to break the siege on the Gaza Strip and deliver humanitarian aid.
Tensions also escalated in 2018, with the withdrawal of the ambassadors of the two countries, after the Israeli occupation forces killed Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during protests against former US President Donald Trump’s announcement of moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.
gas project
Since 2019, Israel has cooperated with Cyprus and Greece, Turkey’s historical foes, on the potential EastMed pipeline project to transport eastern Mediterranean gas to Europe.
Turkey strongly opposed the project, and defended its territorial claims to the region’s wealth, but the project was supported by the administration of former US President Donald Trump.
However, several press reports – including Israeli reports – stated that Washington informed Greece last week, especially that the administration of President Joe Biden no longer supports the EastMed project because it has caused regional tensions with Turkey.
In this context, Erdogan said in his statements yesterday evening, Wednesday, that Washington withdrew because it did not see in the project what it expected in terms of costs and benefits.
He added, “No regional project that ignores Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean can succeed, and we have already seen this fact in our region and affirmed it explicitly.”
Erdogan considered that the EastMed project was not clear-cut, accusing what he called “the Greek Cypriot administration” and Greece of putting forward the project with political motives to exclude Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots.
The Turkish president expressed Ankara’s welcome “to the United States finally seeing this truth.”
