Israel’s president Isaac Herzog is set to hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the capital, Ankara, as the countries seek to mend fractured ties during the first visit by an Israeli leader since 2008. The two countries have traded accusations constantly over Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and Ankara’s support for the Hamas group, which governs the Gaza Strip.
However, President Herzog’s visit to Ankara and Istanbul, on Wednesday and Thursday, was in the making for weeks as the countries sought a rapprochement. Bilateral diplomatic ties and regional issues are expected to dominate the talks, but the prospect to use Israeli gas in Turkey and, more ambitiously in Europe, is also likely to come up in the meeting between the two leaders.