Israel's Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog met last week with his Turkish counterpart, Hasan Murat Mercan, an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The dinner meeting was also attended by the US ambassadors of three other central Asian Muslim countries – Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
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Israel has official diplomatic relations with these countries, but the purpose of the meeting was to initiate broader partnerships, both bilateral and multilateral, in a variety of areas.
The person behind the meeting, who also attended, was Malcolm Hoenlein, the vice-chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Hoenlein, who has a broad range of contacts in Washington, held a preliminary meeting several weeks ago with some of the ambassadors and proposed the idea of coordination with Israel.
If the initiative moves forward, it is expected, in the first phase, to focus on bolstering weaker areas, such as cultural ties between the countries. The ambassadors also discussed strengthening the Jewish communities in the respective Muslim countries and increasing awareness of their Jewish history.
In later stages, the sides intend to jointly advance more significant interests in the areas of commerce, energy, and even security. The model they would seek to emulate would be predicated on the bloc of Mediterranean countries, which has been active for around the past decade, comprising Israel, Cyprus, Greece, and sometimes Egypt as well.
An official familiar with the details told Israel Hayom that the growing strength of Russia and Iran, coupled with America's perceived decline, is one of the factors behind the five countries' decision to develop closer ties.
It should be noted that this new channel was opened parallel to the warming of relations between Israel and Turkey, which has occurred primarily on the presidential level.
President Isaac Herzog, who is the brother of Israel's US ambassador, Michael, spoke on the phone on Sunday with Erdogan and wished him health and a speedy recovery after the latter contracted the coronavirus. The Turkish president thanked Herzog for taking an interest, and the two discussed the possibility of meeting in the near future. The belief is that Herzog will visit Ankara in early spring.
It was the fourth telephone call between the two since Herzog entered office some six months ago.
Turkey has been working to mend its strained regional ties with Israel and other nations as part of a charm offensive launched in 2020. In an apparent easing after years of animosity, Erdogan said last week that Herzog will visit Turkey in mid-March.
"We are holding talks with our Israeli partners, and President Herzog could visit Turkey very soon," the Turkish president was quoted as saying by Turkish news agency Anadolu.
Last week, Erdogan said Turkey and Israel can work together to carry natural gas from Israel to Europe and that the two countries would discuss energy cooperation during talks next month.
Speaking to reporters on a return flight from Kyiv, Ukraine, Erdogan said energy cooperation would be on the agenda during Herzog's visit, and added Ankara was also in talks on signing a natural gas supply deal with Iraq, according to Turkish media.
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