Turkey appointed ambassador to Israel after 4 years

 Ankara: Turkey appointed its ambassador to Israel after four years, marking the beginning of new relations between the two countries.

According to the international news agency, Turkey has appointed its experienced diplomat Shakir Özkan Torunler as ambassador to Israel, who was also the consul general of Turkey in Jerusalem between 2010 and 2014.

It should be remembered that in May 2018, Turkey recalled its ambassador from Israel protesting the killing of Palestinians and expelled the Israeli ambassador from its country.

Since then, the relations between Turkey and Israel could not be normalized, but the contacts started to be restored at the beginning of this year. In March, the Israeli president also visited Turkey.

It was the first visit by a high-ranking Israeli official in ten years. After that, Prime Minister Yair Lapid visited Turkey in September and also met the Turkish President, in which both countries decided to restore diplomatic relations.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has been criticizing Israel's policy towards the Palestinians in the past, but has sent a congratulatory letter to Netanyahu on his victory in the recent Israeli elections.