President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel are scheduled to hold a meeting on July 28 in Ankara, the Turkish capital, in a sign of improving ties between the two countries.
The meeting, which was announced by both sides on Wednesday, will be the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders since 2009, when Erdogan stormed out of a panel discussion with Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The relations between Turkey and Israel, once close allies, have deteriorated over the past decade due to several disputes, including the 2010 Israeli raid on a Turkish aid flotilla to Gaza that killed 10 Turkish activists, and Turkey’s support for the Palestinian cause.
However, in recent months, both countries have expressed a willingness to mend their ties.
The meeting in Ankara is expected to address key bilateral issues, such as trade, tourism, security cooperation and regional stability. The leaders will also discuss the situation in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, as well as the Iranian nuclear deal and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.