The relations between Turkey and Israel have great potential but there may be some problematic areas in the future and one of them is Hamas’ office in Istanbul, said Irit Lillian, Israel’s Charge d’Affaires in its Ankara Embassy, DW Turkish reported.
“The existence of the Hamas office in Istanbul is an important issue. Hamas is seen as a terrorist organization by the international community and it is no secret that we want the Istanbul office of this organization to be closed and its members sent away,” Lilian said, in a meeting with several Turkish journalists in Ankara.
She said she was optimistic about the normalization process between Turkey and Israel and she believed that “the main goal of both countries is to make our region safer and more peaceful.”
The two countries decided to normalize their relations after years of tension over Israel’s attacks against Palestinians, and they recently decided to appoint ambassadors to one another.
The Charge d’Affaires reminded that Turkey was the first Muslim state to recognize Israel and worked as en engine to drive Israeli relations with Muslim countries for many years.
“Now, while we are developing our relations with other Muslim countries, it is unthinkable that Turkey is not among them,” bhe said.
Lillian said that the ambassador to be appointed by Israel to Ankara has not been determined yet, and it is not yet clear whether a career or a political appointment will be made at this stage.
