Ankara appointed Şakir Ozkan Turunlar as its new ambassador to Israel late Wednesday night, two Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said, following a decision by the two sides last month to restore full diplomatic relations.
The two officials told Reuters that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu gave instructions to Turunlar on Wednesday evening as part of the ministry’s new appointments abroad.
Torunlar is a veteran diplomat with decades of experience and served as the Turkish Consul General in Jerusalem between 2010 and 2013.
Israel has already appointed Irit Lilian as its ambassador to Ankara.
Relations between Turkey and Israel soured in 2011. The two countries resumed full diplomatic relations in 2016 and exchanged ambassadors.
Then tensions escalated again in 2018. Turkey recalled all diplomats and ordered Israeli envoys to leave the country.
The latest developments come five months after Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Ankara, the first by an Israeli leader to Turkey since 2008.
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