This Wednesday, officials from Turkey and Israel announced the restoration of full mutual diplomatic ties, a move that raises questions about Turkey’s support for Palestine.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced during a joint press conference in Ankara this Wednesday evening that Turkey has decided to restore relations with Israel to the highest level.
Cavusoglu also stated that that the appointment of ambassadors was “one of the steps for the normalization of ties,” and that “such a positive step came from Israel, and as a result of these efforts, and as Turkey, we also decided to appoint an ambassador to Israel, to Tel Aviv.”
Yair Lapid, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, also issued a statement in this regard and said that the restoration of relations with Turkey is an important contribution to regional stability and is also important economic news for the citizens of Israel.
“It was decided to once again upgrade the level of the relations between the two countries to that of full diplomatic ties and to return ambassadors and consuls general,” a statement from Lapid’s office said. “Upgrading relations will contribute to deepening ties between the two peoples, expanding economic, trade, and cultural ties, and strengthening regional stability,” it added.
In a comment on Twitter, the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, also welcomed the revival of the diplomatic relations with Turkey to the highest level and wrote: “This is an important settlement that we have been trying to reach for years to make Israel and Turkey establish better economic relations and it will also encourage tourism and mutual friendship as well.”
Turkey closed eyes on the Palestinian cause
After Israel and Turkey announced their diplomatic rapprochement, Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara that the move did not mean that Turkey would be abandoning the Palestinian cause. “We have always said we will continue to defend the rights of Palestine, Jerusalem and Gaza. It’s important that our messages are conveyed at the ambassadorial level in Tel Aviv,” he said.
Good to mention that back in 2018, Israel and Turkey expelled each other’s ambassadors following the killing of 60 Palestinians by Israeli forces during protests in the Gaza Strip against the opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem, a move decided by the US former president Donald Trump.
The visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Turkey in May, following the meeting of the two foreign ministers, led to the improvement of relations after more than 10 years of tension.
This action follows the efforts of Israel to improve its relations with regional powers and two years after the signing of the so-called Abraham Accords, which led to the normalization of the relations of Israel with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and some other Arab states.
Currently, Turkey faces a lot of economic and political challenges. To read between the lines, there will be a presidential election in Turkey in one year, but with inflation at more than 70 percent, Ankara wants to attract investment from regional countries.
Therefore, considering Turkey’s economic problems, it seems Erdogan has come to a conclusion to victimize the Palestinian cause to the benefit of his own political position.
This becomes more apparent as Erdogan witnessed Israel’s recent bloody attacks against Palestine in which dozens of Muslim men, women, and children were killed. Israeli defense officials later confirmed that an Israeli raid on a Gaza cemetery alone killed five Palestinian children during its assault in early August.
