In a plot twist more fitting to a soap opera than a flight plan, Turkey just threw a major spanner in Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s travel plans to the COP29 summit in Baku. Here’s the scoop: Turkey simply said no when Israel asked for permission for Herzog’s plane to fly over its skies to get to Azerbaijan. Turkish officials confirmed this to Al-Monitor this Sunday.
So here’s what happened. The Israeli team was gearing up for the big climate talks in Baku on November 12-13 and sent a request. It’s pretty simple: to get to Baku from Israel you fly over Iran or Turkey. And let’s be honest, flying over Iran hasn’t been on the radar for obvious reasons.
Who’s Isaac Herzog? Only the big guy leading the Israeli delegation, ready to talk climate change and all things environment. But—plot twist—his visit got canned, and Israel’s official line was about “security reasons.” Makes you wonder though, right?
Israeli ministers did make it to Baku, however. Exactly which flight path they took remains a mystery shrouded in security and discretion. Apparently, Turkish airways aren’t getting any extra requests for fly-overs, and regular flights from Tel Aviv to Baku are taking off, business as usual. Seems like only Herzog’s trip hit the snag.
What’s up with Azerbaijan?
Now, what’s up with Azerbaijan? They jumped into the mix, trying to smooth things over with Turkey to get a thumbs-up for the flight. But no dice there either.
Here’s some backstory: In March last year, Herzog visited Turkey, the first time an Israeli president had done so in over a decade. That visit was part of a bigger “let’s be friends again” campaign between both countries. Things seemed to be on the up and up until all the political tea started to spill.
Then Palestinian tension reared its head again. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is never shy about backing the Palestinian cause so he took aim at Israel after the latest Hamas-Israel conflict. Things got so bad that Israel hit pause on diplomatic relations with Turkey in October. They even pulled their ambassador from Ankara because of all the big anti-Israel rallies making things a bit hairy.
Not one to be silent, Turkey recalled their ambassador from Israel earlier this month. And with Hamas leaders having a second home in Turkey, the waters between these two countries are still choppy.
So there you have it, folks. What was supposed to be a quick flyover turned into a geopolitical soap opera. Let’s see what’s next in this series.
