NAN-F-15
Appointment
Istanbul, Nov. 16, 2016 (dpa/NAN) Turkey has appointed Kemal Okem as new Ambassador to Israel, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday, filling a seat vacant since 2010.
The move came a day after Israel appointed an ambassador to Turkey.
The announcement marked an end to six years of tensions, which peaked when Israeli naval commandos conducted lethal raid on a pro-Palestinian aid flotilla.
The ships were aiming to breach the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Among them were 10 Turkish nationals, one with joint U.S. citizenship who died as a result of the raid on the ship, Mavi Marmara.
Eitan Naeh, who is currently the Deputy Ambassador of Israel in London, will be posted to Ankara.
Okem is a former senior foreign policy advisor to the Turkish government.
Under the reconciliation deal, Turkey had already been able to up the amount of aid sent to Palestinians in the embattled Gaza Strip, though Turkey failed to achieve a lifting of the blockage.
In 2013, Israel expressed regret for the deaths, a key Turkish demand to restore once vibrant ties.
Israel had also transferred a lump sum of 20 million dollars into a Turkish government account, meant to be distributed to victims’ families.
Erdogan had been a staunch critic of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip at one point, accusing Israel of attempting genocide and more barbaric than Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
Ankara is close to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic militant movement. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Damilola Oyewole/Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu