The government of Turkish President Richap Tayyip Ardoan, who has made a strong commentary on Israel at the international level and talked about the rights of the Palestinians, has announced a sudden resumption of diplomatic relations with Israel, which has almost ended two years.

Turkey appointed its ambassador to Israel on 15 December 2020. In 2018, Turkey withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv in protest against Israel's violent actions against Palestinian protesters in Gaza.

These demonstrations were against US President Donald Trump's decision to send the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Turkish leader Ardoan has called Israel a 'murderer and murderer of children', but now he is sending his ambassador to Israel. To understand the meaning of this decision, it is necessary to understand the recent developments and the long historical relationship between Israel and Turkey.

Turkey's decision to deploy its ambassador came on 15 December 2020 when on 14 December 2020, the US imposed trade sanctions on Turkey.

After purchasing the S-400 missile defense system from Russia, the US halted several plans, including selling its F-35 fighter aircraft to Turkey in early 2020, and Turkey's aviator training program.

Despite US pressure, Turkey refused to back down the purchase of the Russian missile system. Now on the go, the Trump administration has imposed new restrictions on Turkey.

It is worth noting that Turkey is also an important member of NATO, the defense alliance of America and Europe.

New factionalism and 'geo-strategic' changes are taking place in the Middle East at a time when the entire world is historically battling the Corona virus epidemic.

Economic difficulties are increasing in countries all over the world and Arab countries have a difficult time as their dependence on oil has decreased due to which their economic burden has increased.

Arab countries are discovering their new economic prospects by reviewing their traditional policies due to economic stability.

At the same time, political change is also coming in America and the administration of the new President Joe Biden is going to take over from 20 January 2021.

Fluctuations in Turkey and Israel relations

Palestine has always remained a focal point in relations between Turkey and Israel. Three times in the past, Turkey has tried to bring down or end its diplomatic relations with Israel and each time Palestine has been at its center.

Turkey first cut its diplomatic ties in 1956, when Israel was attacked in the Sinai Desert after the support of Britain and France on the Suez Canal issue.

This was followed by a secret meeting between the then Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gorian and Turkish Chief Adnan Menderes in 1958 and the two countries agreed to establish defense and intelligence cooperation.

When Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1980, Turkey again reduced its diplomatic relations with it. During this period diplomatic relations between the two countries remained cold but relations between the two countries were restored after the Oslo peace deal in the 90s.

During this time, the relationship between the two countries, which was also called the 'marriage of coercion', continued without any confusion and during this time there were many agreements of cooperation in mutual trade and defense.

In January 2000, Israel entered into an agreement to buy water from Turkey, but the agreement did not last long. This was followed by several defense agreements between the two countries, including giving drones and surveillance equipment to Turkey.

The main reason for the formation of relations in the defense sector - Turkey's defense needs and finding buyers to sell their goods to Israel.

In Turkey in November 2002, relations between the two countries began a new turning point when Rechap Tayyip Ardoan's right-wing Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power. In 2005, Ardoan also visited Israel and offered a visit to Turkey to then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The situation took another turn in December 2008, and three days after Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Perez visited Ankara, Israel started climbing in Gaza under the name 'Operation Cast Led'.

Ardoan, who had sympathy with Hamas, was severely shocked by this action by Israel and called it 'clearly deceived'.

In 2010, the Mavi Marmara incident occurred during the siege of the Israeli army in Gaza. Mavi Marmara was carrying humanitarian aid from a Turkish human rights organization, which was attacked by the Israeli army. 10 Ottoman civilians were killed in this incident.

After this incident, the relationship between the two countries ended.

American try

The US continued efforts to reduce tensions and restore diplomatic relations between its two friendly countries in the region.

For this, Ardoan put forward three conditions, including conditions such as apologizing for the attack on Mavi Marmara, compensation for the casualties and ending the siege of Gaza.

The biggest condition for Israel was to apologize, and Israel was also demanding Turkey to expel some Hamas leaders from the country.

As part of US efforts, in 2013, then President Barack Obama held a phone conversation between Ardoan and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. During a telephone conversation, Netanyahu agreed to apologize and pay compensation for the casualties.

Despite this, frequent incidents in the region led to a delay in normalizing relations between the two countries and finally in 2016, diplomatic relations could be restored between the two countries.

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