According to The Jerusalem Post, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan met on Tuesday to discuss efforts to negotiate a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as other regional and international issues.
The Jerusalem Post is a broadsheet daily published in the city of Jerusalem.
Netanyahu and Erdogan met in New York on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly.
This is Erdogan’s second such meeting with an Israeli prime minister since 2008. He met with former Prime Minister Yisrael Lapid last year. Netanyahu told Erdogan at the start of their meeting: “Our ties are growing stronger”.
Netanyahu congratulated Erdogan for bilateral security cooperation, including the thwarting of Iranian attempts to attack Israelis in Istanbul. The two presidents agreed to schedule official visits to Israel and Turkey in the near future.
Meanwhile, Erdogan wants to visit Israel as soon as possible to pray at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to Channel 12 news, without identifying a source. The prayer would commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, which was formed on October 29, 1923.
The presidents discussed progress in Israeli-Palestinian ties, according to the Turkish readout of Tuesday’s meeting. Erdogan also advocated collaboration in energy, technology, innovation, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity, according to the report. The conference was also attended by Turkey’s foreign minister, energy minister, and intelligence head.
The Turkish President posted photos of the meeting, hoping that “our consultations will be beneficial for our country and the region.”