Acting Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan held their first bilateral meeting in New York on Tuesday night since the two countries restored diplomatic ties last month.
President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan met for the first time in more than a decade with the prime minister of Israel, Yair Lapid.
This last authority seeks the help of the Turkish president to find the whereabouts of the Israelis in detention Hamas Islamists.
The two leaders met on the sidelines United Nations General Assembly in New York (UN), one month after diplomatic relations between the countries were restored.
Lapid highlighted “the issue of missing or captured Israelis and the importance of bringing them back,” a statement from the prime minister’s office said. Militants of the Islamic organization Hamas had detained two Israeli citizens.
The Israeli president also expressed his concern about Iran. “I thank President Erdogan for the intelligence cooperation,” he said, according to the same source.
After months of a new diplomatic approach, Israel and Turkey announced on August 17 that their bilateral relations would be fully restored and the return of ambassadors in both countries.
Since 2010, relations have deteriorated rapidly following a deadly Israeli military attack on a Turkish ship. Mavi Marmara. He was trying to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory controlled by the Israeli army and controlled by Hamas.
The last meeting between Erdogan and the Prime Minister of Israel It had been in 2008.
In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Erdogan reiterated his demand to establish a Palestinian state.
Despite this, he also expressed his desire to “continue to develop relations with Israel for the sake of the future, of peace.” We want stability not only in the region, but also from Israel, from the people of Palestine and from us.”
