Israel announced the appointment of Irit Lilian as new ambassador to Turkey, after the return of diplomatic relations between the two parties to their highest level.
The position has been vacant for four years after the deterioration of relations between the two parties.
Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the final appointment of ambassador Lilian to the post needs the approval of the Israeli government.
Irit Lilian is a prominent diplomat, who has played a key role in the normalization of relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv, and has been the Chargé d’Affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Ankara since February 2021.
Turkey has not yet announced the name of its new ambassador to Tel Aviv, but Israeli expectations indicate that Ankara may take this step during the next few days.
It is noteworthy that Israel announced in August that it had reached a final agreement to restore diplomatic relations with Turkey, to return ambassadors and consuls to Tel Aviv and Ankara, and to restore relations between them to their previous era.
In light of the recent rapprochement in relations between Tel Aviv and Ankara, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Tuesday met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prior to the United Nations General Assembly meeting.
In March 2022, Israeli President Isaac Herzog – whose position is considered honorary – flew to Turkey at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the first visit by an Israeli president to this country since 2007.
Two months after Herzog’s visit, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Israel, and Ankara and Tel Aviv said they wanted to expand their economic ties.
It is noteworthy that relations between Turkey and Israel deteriorated in 2008 after Israel launched a military attack on Gaza, and relations between the two sides were frozen in 2010 following the Israeli army’s attack on a Turkish ship that was part of an aid convoy heading to Gaza, killing 10 civilians.
