Israeli defense minister heads to Turkey to relaunch security cooperation

Israeli Protection Minister Benny Gantz traveled to Ankara on Wednesday to fulfill his Turkish counterpart and relaunch safety cooperation between the international locations.

Why it issues: It is the primary go to by an Israeli protection minister to Turkey in a decade.

• The go to and the resumption of protection ties between the international locations are one other step within the course of to normalize relations, which began greater than a yr in the past.

Driving the information: Gantz will meet Turkish Protection Minister Hulusi Akar in Ankara on Thursday.

• Israeli protection officers say the principle points that will likely be mentioned are the bilateral protection ties, regional developments in Iran and Syria, and tensions between Turkey and Greece.

Behind the scenes: Throughout Gantz’s go to to Azerbaijan a number of weeks in the past, President Ilham Aliyev and the Azerbaijani minister of protection stated Israel ought to resume safety cooperation with Turkey, Israeli officers stated.

• The Israeli officers stated Turkey and Israel are Azerbaijan’s high safety companions and the federal government in Baku wished to see its two allies working collectively.
• After the Baku go to, a senior Israeli ministry of protection official traveled to Ankara for talks and reached an settlement on renewing the dialogue between the 2 protection ministries, Israeli officers stated.
• This paved the way in which for Gantz’s go to to Ankara.

Between the strains: Forward of the journey, Gantz spoke to his Greek counterpart and briefed him on the objective of the go to, Israeli officers stated.

• Greek officers say they’re very involved by the escalating rhetoric and threats by Turkey towards Greece in latest weeks. They count on Israel to ship a message to Turkey concerning the want for de-escalation.
• Israeli protection officers stated they plan to boost the difficulty throughout Gantz’s go to to Turkey.

What to look at: Israeli protection officers stated Gantz’s go to and the relaunching of talks between the protection ministries are step one and burdened the method will likely be gradual and sluggish.

• The officers famous that military-to-military cooperation continues to be suspended and so are weapon gross sales to Turkey. “It will take time,” they stated.