New Israeli ambassador presents credentials to President Erdoğan

ANKARA

AA Photo

Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Eitan Na’eh has presented his credentials to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to officially begin his tenure in Ankara, after six years of low-level diplomatic representation due to the Mavi Marmara crisis of 2010. 

Turkish Ambassador to Israel Kemal Öke will begin his work in Tel Aviv on Dec. 12.

Turkey and Israel decided to appoint ambassadors to each other’s capitals after they concluded an agreement normalizing their bilateral relationship in late June this year. 

After officially apologizing to Turkey for the raid on the Mavi Marmara flotilla and agreeing to pay compensation to the families of the victims, Israel also granted Turkey the right to access the Gaza Strip to extend humanitarian aid. In return, Turkey moved to drop cases opened against high-ranking Israeli military officers who participated in the deadly Mavi Marmara operation that killed 10 Turkish nationals.

Ambassador Na’eh arrived in Ankara on Dec. 1, accompanied by his wife and two children as well as embassy staff. The delegation had a photo taken with President Erdoğan when he presented his credentials on Dec. 5. 

Na’eh, whose last position was the deputy head of the Israeli Embassy in London, is familiar with Turkey, having been assigned as first and second secretary in Ankara in 1993.

In 1997 he served as deputy consul general for press and information in Chicago and the Midwest in the United States, and in 1999 as the head of the Turkish-Greek and Cyprus desk at the Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. 

Most recently, from 2009, he served as senior director at the diplomatic secretariat of the National Security Council at the office of Israel’s prime minister.  

Na’eh was selected from among seven diplomats who applied for Israel’s Embassy in Ankara. After nomination by the Foreign Ministry on Nov. 15, the Israeli government’s security committee formally appointed him as the country’s new ambassador to Turkey.