JERUSALEM: Israeli President Isaac Herzog is preparing to visit Turkey, his office said on Tuesday, in a rare trip that marks the latest sign of a thaw following years of frayed ties.

A statement from Herzog’s office said that a high-ranking Turkish delegation was due in Israel this week, including a top aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ibrahim Kalin, and deputy foreign minister Sedat Onal.

The Turkish delegation’s visit was “part of preparations for the planned visit of President Isaac Herzog” to Turkey, the Israeli presidency said. In a television interview last month, Erdogan said he expected Herzog to visit, hailing the trip as an opportunity to “open a new chapter in relations between Turkey and Israel”.

Herzog’s office had declined to comment on the prospective trip until Tuesday’s statement, which gave no indication of a possible date. Turkey’s state-run TRT television reported the trip would take place on March 9 and 10.

Relations between Muslim-majority Tur­key and Israel froze after the death of 10 civilians in an Israeli raid on a Turkish flotilla carrying aid for the Gaza Strip in 2010.

In recent months, however, the two countries have been working on a rapprochement, with Erdogan, a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, holding telephone talks with Herzog and other Israeli leaders.

‘Easier’ person

Gallia Lindenstrauss, a Turkey specialist at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said hosting Herzog amounted to a “u-turn” for Erdogan as there has been no “major change in Israeli policy towards the Palestinians”.

She and other analysts have linked the warming ties partly to former Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s ouster from office in June. Relations between Netanyahu and Erdogan had grown bitter during their respective long tenures.

“I think definitely the formation of a new government after a long time of Netanyahu in power is seen as a new opportunity,” she told AFP last week.

Netanyahu was replaced by an ideologically diverse Israeli coalition headed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a right-winger who opposes Palestinian statehood.

Herzog, former head of Israel’s centre-left Labour Party, is seen as more moderate on Palestinian issues, and therefore an “easier person to deal with” for Erdogan, Linde­nstrauss added.

A Turkish statement confirming the delegation’s visit this week said Kalin and Onal would also meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority based in the occupied West Bank.

Turkey also has ties with Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls Gaza.

Lindenstrauss said that Israel would likely seek an end to Hamas “logistical and military planning on Turkish soil” as part of any enhanced diplomatic relationship with Ankara.

Israel is also stepping up its diplomatic efforts over Iran’s nuclear programme, as major powers continue talks with Tehran on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, a pact the Jewish state strongly opposes.

Any cooperation against arch foe Iran from Turkey would be a boon for Israel, Lindenstrauss said, but voiced “doubt this will happen,” given the close and complex ties between Ankara and Tehran.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2022