Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree appointing an ambassador for Turkey to Israel, after the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two sides.
Şakir Ozkan Turunlar - a veteran diplomat who served as the consul general of Turkey in Jerusalem between 2010 and 2014 - was appointed to this position by a presidential decree on Friday evening, Turkish media reported.
Ankara withdrew its ambassador from Israel in May 2018, and expelled the Israeli envoy;
After the martyrdom of dozens of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli occupation army, Israel responded by returning the Turkish Consul in Jerusalem to his country.
Last September, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the appointment of Irit Lilian as Tel Aviv's ambassador to Turkey.
The position has been vacant for 4 years after the deterioration of relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv.
Earlier this year, Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Ankara in the first visit by an Israeli president to Turkey since 2008.
It is noteworthy that relations between Turkey and Israel deteriorated in 2008 after Israel launched a war 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;
As a result, 10 civilians were killed.