Turkey names new Ambassador to Israel, the first appointment since 2018

Turkey names new Ambassador to Israel, the first appointment since 2018
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Update: 07 October 2022 20:23
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Senior diplomat Sakir Ozkan Torunlar will serve as Ankara’s new envoy to Tel-Aviv

Turkey appointed Sakir Ozkan Torunlar as its new ambassador to Israel on Thursday, amid efforts for repairing ties and restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Torunlar is Ankara’s first assignment to the post since May 2018, that Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and recalled its own envoy in Tel-Aviv over Israeli attacks on the Palestinians in Gaza. 

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

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.

Turkey’s new Tel-Aviv envoy Torunlar was a senior diplomat who had served as Ankara’s consul general in Jerusalem between 2010 and 2013, state-run Anadolu news agency reported