Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Bennett thanks Erdoğan for help in releasing imprisoned Israeli couple
It was the first conversation between the two leaders and the first time an Israeli premier spoke with the Turkish president in nearly a decade.
“We are full of hope and faith that authorities in Turkey will find [our] arguments compelling enough to accept,” says attorney Nir Yaslovitzh, on behalf of Natalie and Mordy Oknin, arrested on charges of espionage.
“At the end of the day, Israel does have the upper hand. It’s created for itself alternatives to its relationship with Turkey. So today, compared to 10 years ago, Israel is much less in need of Ankara than it was previously,” said Gallia Lindenstrauss, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies.
Mordy and Natalie Oknin could become victims of the Erdoğan regime’s “political legal system,” says a former Turkish parliamentarian from the pro-secular Republican People’s Party.
Bennett: Israel ‘doing everything’ to secure release of couple arrested in Turkey
Natalie and Mordy Oknin, bus drivers from Modi’in, were arrested in Istanbul on suspicion of espionage after taking photos of the Turkish president’s residence.
“From Ankara’s side, while strategic imperatives have long been pushing Turkey to mend its ties with Israel, bashing Israel has become instrumental in mobilizing the constituency at the domestic level,” said Selin Nasi.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid noted his concern over “unilateral Turkish actions and statements regarding the status of Varosha,” making it clear that Israel stands with Cyprus on the issue.
Erdoğan calls Herzog amid tense relations between Israel and Turkey
Relations between Jerusalem and Ankara have cooled in the past few years as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s pro-Islamist ideology has led to heavy criticism of Israel.
The Turkish president says that his country’s “legacy of respect and tolerance” led the government to place great importance on the worship of all faiths.
The main point of contention between the two former allies remains the presence of senior Hamas officials on Turkish soil.
The funds are earmarked for a new industrial zone, which according to the Palestinian Authority will span an area of 272 acres and provide 5,000 new jobs.
It’s unlikely that Jerusalem will jettison its new Arab allies after a wave of normalization agreements, bolstered by its relations with Greece, Cyprus and Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean, in exchange for some recent warm words from the Turkish president.
