Web Desk — Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday, in the first visit by an Israeli head of state to Turkey since 2008. The two countries are seeking to mend fractured relations.

Israel and Turkey are both acting as mediators between Kyiv and Moscow during Herzog’s visit, which was planned weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. Despite Turkey’s vocal support for the Palestinian cause and criticism of Israeli policies, bilateral issues are expected to dominate the talks after more than a decade of a rupture. The war in Ukraine is also expected to be discussed.

“We will not agree on everything and the relationship between Israel and Turkey has certainly known ups and downs and not-so-simple moments in recent years,” the Israeli president said before leaving for the Turkish capital.

“But we shall try to restart our relations and build them in a measured and cautious manner.”

Herzog and Erdogan passed through an honor guard at the Mustafa Kemal Ataturk mausoleum after arriving in Ankara. In his inscription, Herzog identifies Turkey’s first president as a “visionary leader” who chose “the path of collaboration.”

Israel and the Palestinians have experienced tense relations since 2018 when Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinians taking part in the Great March of Return protests in Gaza, as the protesters called for the implementation of refugees’ rights of return and lifting of Gaza’s crippling 11-year siege. The Turkish government recalled all of its diplomats and ordered Israel’s envoy out of the country.

Nevertheless, experts believe that Turkey and Israel found value in their relationship and incentive to get closer during events in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 and in Afghanistan in 2021.

Hamas, which controls Gaza and maintains close ties with Ankara, condemned Wednesday’s meeting and reiterated its policy of rejecting “any form of communication with our enemy.”

On 3 April, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will visit Israel and Palestine to discuss the reappointment of Turkish and Israeli ambassadors.

Israeli gas to Turkey

Prior to his trip to Ankara, Herzog visited Greece and Cyprus to reassure the two Israeli allies with a bitter history towards Erdogan’s Turkey.

“At a time when the international order is being shaken, it is good and proper that stability and partnership be maintained in our region, and I emphasized this point during my visits to Greece and Cyprus in recent weeks,” he said.

It created an alliance with Greece and Cyprus in 2010, holding regular meetings and joint military exercises. It is a member of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, which was established in 2019 along with Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine, but not Turkey.

In 2020, Israel, Greece, and Cyprus signed the EastMed deal to ship gas from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe, triggering objections from Ankara.

Officials in Israel had said Herzog and Erdogan could discuss the possibility of exporting Israeli gas via Turkey to Europe – an idea Erdogan raised in January before the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began.

Turkish and Israeli officials say the prospect of bringing Israeli gas to Turkey through a pipeline in the Eastern Mediterranean is a major factor in their efforts to repair their relationship.

“The market logic to bring Israeli gas to Turkey for domestic use and export to Europe has existed for at least eight years and has not changed,” Michael Tanchum, a fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told Middle East Eye.

“With events in Ukraine focusing on a sense of urgency on natural gas, combined with Turkey’s recent rapprochement efforts with Israel and other Middle Eastern actors, the previous political obstacles could be resolved.”

Herzog, who will hold bilateral talks with Erdogan before a state dinner, will also meet members of the Jewish community in Istanbul on Thursday, before returning to Israel.