Netanyahu holds first-ever meeting with Turkey’s Erdogan
The meeting marks a positive development between the two leaders who have previously accused each other of terrorism.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, marking the first meeting ever between the two former rivals.
Netanyahu told Erdogan that ties between the two countries were “improving.”
The two leaders discussed regional and international issues, including normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia and agreed to continue advancing bilateral relations in trade, economic matters and energy.
Netanyahu also thanked Erdogan for the “productive cooperation by their countries’ security services, which thwarted the malicious intent of terrorist cells to attack Israeli targets in Istanbul, thereby saving lives.”
Netanyahu and Erdogan agreed to visit each other in Israel and Turkey in the near future. According to Channel 12, Erdogan is planning visit Israel and Jerusalem as soon as possible, where he will pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The meeting marks a positive development between the two leaders who have previously accused each other of being terrorists. Netanyahu accused Erdogan of “bombing Kurdish villagers” and rejected the Turkish leader’s “moral lessons” regarding the IDF conduct in the Palestinian territories.
Erdogan fired back at Netanyahu, saying: “You are a terrorist. History is recording what you have done to all those oppressed Palestinians … We are not guilty of any act of occupation.”
“Erdogan is among Hamas’s biggest supporters and there is no doubt that he well understands terrorism and slaughter. I suggest that he not preach morality to us,” Netanyahu said later that year.
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