Today, Monday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the appointment of Irit Lilian as Tel Aviv's ambassador to Ankara, after the return of diplomatic relations between the two parties to their highest level, and the position has been vacant for 4 years after the deterioration of relations between the two parties.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the final appointment of Ambassador Lilian to the post needs the approval of the Israeli government.
The Times of Israel reported that Irit Lilian is a prominent diplomat, who has played a key role in the normalization of relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv, and has been the Chargé d'Affairs at the Israeli Embassy in Ankara since February 2021.
Israel and Turkey announced in the middle of last month their decision to exchange ambassadors, and Turkey has not yet announced the name of its new ambassador in Tel Aviv.
Lapid and Erdogan
It is scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the occasion of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and it will be the first meeting between an Israeli prime minister and a Turkish president since 2008.
The French news agency quoted a source as saying that the meeting between Erdogan and Lapid will take place tomorrow, Tuesday.
Last March, Israeli President Isaac Herzog - whose position is considered honorary - flew to Turkey at the invitation of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the first visit by an Israeli president to this country since 2007.
Two months after Herzog's visit, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Israel, and Ankara and Tel Aviv said they wanted to expand their economic ties.
It is noteworthy that relations between Turkey and Israel deteriorated in 2008 after Israel launched a military attack on Gaza, and relations between the two sides were frozen in 2010 following the Israeli army’s attack on a Turkish ship that was part of an aid convoy heading to Gaza, killing 10 civilians.