'Israel' President to visit Turkey next week
Turkey and the Israeli occupation are expecting a rapprochement in relations despite the latter killing Turkish civilians years ago and Ankara's vocality about the Palestinian cause.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Israeli occupation President Isaac Herzog will travel to Turkey next week to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as relations between the two parties simmer, "Tel Aviv" said Saturday.
Herzog will be the first occupation president to make an official visit to Turkey since 2003, making it nearly two decades without such a visit.
Herzog's counterpart, Erdogan, will receive him in Ankara on Wednesday before the two head to Istanbul for meetings in the city.
"The two presidents will discuss various bilateral issues, including Israel-Turkey relations and the potential for expanding collaboration between their respective states and peoples in various fields," the Israeli occupation president's office said.
Relations between "Tel Aviv" and Ankara have been cold following the 2010 Israeli killing of 10 Turkish civilians delivering aid to the Gaza Strip as part of a raid on a Turkish flotilla.
Relations were slightly mended in 2015 following a reconciliation pact, as per which ties were formally restored, but neither country returned their ambassador to post amid criticism from Turkey's Erdogan against the Israeli occupation's actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli occupation is infamous for the abuses it commits in occupied Palestine against Palestinian civilians, from killing and incarcerating children, women, and men to mistreating prisoners and attacking people with special needs.
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Despite the Palestinian cause, Erdogan and his Israeli counterpart have been working on a rapprochement, with the two holding phone calls and discussing several matters.
This visit, anticipated for months by Ankara, was described by the Turkish president as an opportunity to "open a new chapter in relations between Turkey and Israel."
Over the past two weeks, Herzog toured Turkey's neighbors, Greece and Cyprus, in a bid to reassure the two that rapprochement with Turkey would not undermine "Tel Aviv's" ties with Athens and Nicosia.
