Turkey and Israel agreed to strengthen and normalize bilateral relations, said the Turkish Foreign Minister on Wednesday, May 25.
During his visit to Israel, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey and Israel had agreed to bring new synergies in the relations between the two countries in many fields including increasing the volume of trade and mutually beneficial economic cooperation.
Cavusoglu said that Turkey-Israel trade volume surpassed $8 billion last year while considering this year’s first quarter is very promising.
On the same occasion, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid added that Israel and Turkey will launch a new framework to strengthen bilateral relations at various levels. He further called his dialogue with Cavusoglu “fruitful and honest” to start a new framework for improving relations between the two countries that will be beneficial in the future.
On the same day, Cavusoglu visited the Holocaust Remembrance Museum “Yad Vashem” in West Jerusalem and laid a wreath in the hall of the museum.
Earlier on Tuesday, he had also visited Ramallah and met Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki to sign a series of agreements on economic cooperation. He assured the Palestinians that Turkey’s support for the Palestinian cause is completely independent of their relations with Israel.
It is known that one of the main agendas of the Lapid-Cavusoqlu meeting is the restoration of ambassadors in both the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv and the Israeli Embassy in Ankara.
The steps to restore diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey began last year with a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli President Issac Herzog, which was followed by Herzog’s visit to Ankara in March.
Israeli analysts speculated that Turkey’s softening position towards Israel is part of the efforts that Turkey made to restore relations with the U.S.
Recently, a Pakistani delegation also visited Israel on a secret visit.
