Israel denies getting request from Turkey to exchange ambassadors

• Author: LAHAV HARKOV
• Published date: 30 March 2021
• Date: 30 March 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

An anonymous senior Turkish official told Israel Hayom that Turkey told Israel this week it would be ready to send an ambassador to Tel Aviv if an Israeli envoy is sent to Ankara, yet the Foreign Ministry said it had not heard from any Turkish officials on the matter.

The Prime Minister's Office declined to comment on the matter.

Earlier this month Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is "in talks with Turkey" about natural gas in the Mediterranean Sea, a point of contention between Greece and Cyprus, with which Israel has partnered on the matter, and Turkey. The PMO declined to further elaborate on his comments.

Ties between Israel and Turkey have been tense over the past decade, with Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party, AKP, frequently comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and condemning Israel's "occupation" of the West Bank and treatment of the Palestinians, despite its own illegal occupation of northern Cyprus, northern Syria and persecution of the Kurds.

Turkey also continues to harbor Hamas terrorists, a senior diplomatic source pointed out late last year, after Erdogan made public overtures towards Israel.

Erdogan "has a system" by which he tries to bolster economic ties between Israel and Turkey while supporting Islamist extremists who attack Israel, the source said.

"He can't have it both ways," the diplomatic source said. "You can't strengthen relations with Israel and be the place in which Hamas operatives feel most comfortable."

Erdogan said in December that Turkey "would have liked to...