The State of Israel and the Republic of Turkey formally established diplomatic relations in March 1949. Less than a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Turkey recognized Israeli sovereignty, making it the world's first Muslim-majority country to do so. Both countries gave high priority to bilateral cooperation in the areas of diplomacy and military/strategic ties, while sharing concerns with respect to the regional instabilities in the Middle East. In recent decades, particularly under Turkey's Erdoğan administration, the two countries' relationship with each other has deteriorated considerably. However, diplomatic ties were reinstated after a successful normalization initiative in mid-2022.
President Isaac Herzog during his state visit to Turkey with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, March 2022
Ceremony at the Turkish Soldiers Monument in Beersheba commemorating fallen Ottoman soldiers.
Chaim Weizmann, Seyfullah Esin and Moshe Sharett, 1950
The Turkish Soldiers Monument and Atatürk memorial in the Beersheba Turkish railway station.
The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation by Israel against six civilian ships of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" on 31 May 2010 in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Nine of the flotilla passengers were killed during the raid, with thirty wounded. Ten Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously. The exact sequence of events is contested, in part due to the IDF's confiscation of the passengers' photographic evidence. The flotilla, organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İHH), was carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials, intending to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The MV Mavi Marmara
The INS Hanit at Haifa naval base being readied for the operation
The INS Nitzachon at Haifa naval base being readied for the operation
Mavi Marmara passengers hit IDF soldiers with metal rods.