Turkey and Israel announced Wednesday that they would restore full diplomatic ties by dispatching ambassadors after a four-year chill. 

“The restoration of diplomatic relations is a continuation of the positive direction in the development of ties that occurred over the past year since President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Ankara and the mutual visits of each country’s foreign ministers to Jerusalem and Ankara. Upgrading relations will contribute to deepening ties between the two peoples, expanding economic, trade and cultural ties, and strengthening regional stability,” read a statement from Yair Lapid, Israel’s caretaker prime minister.  

In Ankara, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that the rapprochement with Israel had begun after a new government succeeded that of Benjamin Netanyahu in mid-2021. “The appointment of ambassadors was among the steps we said we would take to normalize relations,” he told reporters. However, as traditional in any statement on the improvement of ties with Israel, Cavusoglu underlined that Turkey would continue to support the Palestinians. “We will continue to defend the rights of Palestine, Jerusalem and Gaza.”  

Turkey and Israel, once friends and regional allies, have had a stormy relationship since 2010 when Israeli forces stormed a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid for Palestinians under an Israeli blockade, killing nine Turkish activists. Although the two sides tried to leave behind the incident in 2013, the reconciliation efforts were short-lived. In 2018, Turkey again pulled back its ambassador after escalating attacks against Palestinians in Gaza and the Donald Trump administration’s decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem.