Israel authorizes first envoy to Turkey since 2018

The Israeli government on Sunday officially appointed Irit Lilian as its new ambassador to Turkey.

Prime Minister Yair Lapid called the appointment “an important step in repairing relations with Turkey,” via a social media post on the same day.

Turkey and Israel are making efforts to mend relations that was deeply fractured more than a decade, over a string of disputed issues, including Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians and Turkey’s close ties with Hamas which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel and the United States. In August, the two governments decided to restore full diplomatic relations and reappoint ambassadors, amid the bilateral efforts that seek to mend frayed ties. In May 2018, Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and recalled its own envoy in Tel-Aviv over Israeli attacks on the Palestinians in Gaza. 

“The government today approved the appointment of the new ambassador to Turkey, Irit Lilian. This is another important step in repairing relations with Turkey that we have been working on for the past year. Last week I met in New York with President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, we instructed our teams to continue working on upgrading our political, economic and tourism relations,” Lapid said.

הממשלה אישרה היום את מינויה של השגרירה החדשה בטורקיה, אירית ליליאן. זהו עוד צעד חשוב בתיקון היחסים עם טורקיה שעליו אנחנו עובדים בשנה האחרונה. בשבוע שעבר נפגשתי בניו יורק עם הנשיא ארדואן, הנחינו את הצוותים שלנו להמשיך לעבוד על שידרוג היחסים המדיניים, הכלכליים והתיירותיים. ????????????????

— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) October 2, 2022

Turkey is also set to reappoint an ambassador to Tel-Aviv.