Israeli envoy presents letter of credentials after 4-year hiatus

ANKARA

Israel’s new envoy to Ankara, Irit Lillian, presented her letter of credentials to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Dec. 27, ending a four-year hiatus in the country’s representation in Türkiye on the level of ambassador.

The move is part of the full normalization of the bilateral relationship between Türkiye and Israel.

Lillian was acting as the chargé d’affaires of the Israeli Embassy in Ankara and was recently named as the new Israeli ambassador to Türkiye.

Türkiye and Israel have been in a process of reconciliation since late 2021 to mend the sour ties between the two regional neighboring countries.

Erdoğan and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, along with ministers of the two countries, established senior-level contacts through 2022 to make the normalization possible.

Türkiye and Israel had withdrawn their envoys in 2018 after the latter’s security forces killed scores of civilian Palestinians protesting the United States’ decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The ties between the two nations have long been suffering in the past decade, first due to the “One Minute” crisis in Davos and later the killing of 10 Turkish men by the Israeli commandos in an incident dubbed the Mavi Marmara crisis.