Gantz meets with Erdogan to promote defense cooperation with Turkey after resuming diplomatic ties

Oct. 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a meeting on Thursday with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz in the capital, Ankara, with the aim of promoting defense cooperation after the gradual resumption of diplomatic relations between the two nations. .

Gantz landed in Ankara on Wednesday night in what is his first official trip to Turkey more than ten years after the full restoration of diplomatic relations with the country after appointing two ambassadors last August.

The ties between the two countries were broken by the death in 2010 of ten activists in the Israeli assault on the ship ‘Mavi Marmara’, which was part of the so-called Freedom Flotilla and was trying to circumvent the blockade imposed against the Gaza Strip.

The rapprochement took place after last March, the presidents of Israel and Turkey, Isaac Herzog and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, respectively, ensured that the former’s official visit to Ankara, the first in more than ten years to the country by a Israeli leader, was a “turning point” between nations.

In the presence of Hulusi Akar, Turkish Defense Minister, Gantz discussed “strategic issues” with Erdogan, as well as “the commitment of the two countries to work for stability, prosperity and security in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean”, according to the newspaper ‘The Times of Israel’.

Gantz thanked Erdogan for the arrest in July of several Iranians who planned to attack or kidnap Israeli tourists in Istanbul at the end of July after the National Security Council pointed out the existence of danger to its citizens in the Turkish city in the face of possible reprisals. for the death of a senior member of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

“This activity against terrorism is of great importance for the ability to strengthen cooperation and renew official defense relations between the countries,” he said, adding that, despite the fact that “it is no secret” that both nations “have faced challenges”, Turkey is currently one of its main trading partners.

“Going forward, we must take a firm and positive approach in our relations, maintaining an open dialogue. As agreed in our meetings, I have instructed my staff (in the Ministry of Defense) to begin the necessary procedures to resume relations,” has settled Gantz.