Israeli President Isaac Herzog was greeted with pomp and ceremony at the palace of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, marking the first time a leader from Israel has visited Ankara in nearly a decade and a half.

The lightening visit was part of a bid to restore frayed relations between Jerusalem and Ankara.

Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah,” and a 21-gun salute welcomed Herzog when he arrived at Erdogan’s 1000-room palace.

“The relationship with Turkey has had its ups and downs in recent years — we will not agree on everything, but we will try to restart relations,” Herzog said in a statement ahead of his departure.

All images courtesy Israel GPO (Government Press Office) 

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet on Wednesday (Israel GPO)

“Relations between Israel and Turkey are important to Israel, important to Turkey and important to the entire region,” he said.

“Hopefully following my visit, a process of in-depth and serious dialogue with Turkey will begin at various levels, and we will eventually see progress with positive relations and results,” he said.

Erdogan said his country was ready to cooperate with Israel on energy issues.

According to The Times of Israel, however, the meeting is unlikely to lead to the reinstallment of full ambassadors in each others’ capitals.

Israel’s relations with Turkey crumbled in 2008 with Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They further deteroriated in 2010 when the Erdogan-linked IHH (Humanitarian Relief Foundation) sent the Mavi Marmara flotilla, an ostensibly peaceful ship, to breach the IDF’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

However, armed IHH terrorists who were on board attacked IDF soldiers who stormed the ship and ten Turkish citizens were killed.

The welcome from Turkey was formal and framed entirely within diplomatic protocols (Israel GPO)

Erdogan and Herzog meet diplomatic representatives after a a 21-gun salute (Israel GPO)

The Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded. In 2018, Ankara expelled Israel’s ambassador over the IDF’s response to violent rioting on the Gaza border.

Erdogan recently called Herzog’s planned visit an opportunity to “open a new chapter in relations between Turkey and Israel.”

However, things are far from rosy. Only this week, Erdogan’s chief adviser, Yigit Bulutt, charged Israel and Jewish financier George Soros with provoking the war in Ukraine by goading Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is also Jewish.

Herzog’s office declined to comment on the tweet.