JNS
The Israeli Foreign Minister is expected to meet his Turkish counterpart amid security warnings of Iranian terror cells hunting Israelis in Istanbul.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is due to visit Turkey on Thursday, where he will meet with his counterpart, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
The visit comes as Israel continues to urge its citizens to avoid non-essential trips to Turkey, due to intelligence alerts of Iranian Quds Force cells targeting Israeli tourists in the country, particularly in Istanbul.
Lapid’s planned visit comes after months of warming ties between the two countries, which have been in a state of diplomatic crisis for more than a decade.
On May 24, the Turkish foreign minister arrived in Israel for an official state visit. He visited the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem and held meetings with Lapid, as well as with Israeli Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov.
On March 9, Israeli President Isaac Herzog touched down in Turkey, kicking off the first official visit to the country by an Israeli leader since 2008. He went directly to the Presidential Complex in Ankara, where he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for several hours.
“I believe that this historic visit will be a turning point in relations between Turkey and Israel. Strengthening relations with the State of Israel has great value for our country,” Erdoğan said at the time.
Caption: Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid speaks at a conference in Jaffa, June 7, 2022. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90.
