President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to welcome Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Ankara next week, marking the first visit of an Israeli head of state to the Turkish capital in nearly two decades.
The Turkish Presidency's Directorate of Communications released a statement Saturday evening confirming Herzog's two-day visit on March 9-10.
Turkey and Israel will discuss steps to improve cooperation during talks between the two countries' presidents in Ankara, the presidency said on Saturday, as the regional rivals work to repair long-strained ties.
As part of the rapprochement, Herzog will visit in Ankara on March 9-10 at the invitation of President Erdoğan, the Turkish presidency said.
Erdoğan and Herzog will "review all aspects of Turkey-Israel bilateral ties" and "discuss steps that can be taken to improve cooperation," it said.
The two presidents will also hold talks on "recent regional and international developments," it added.
The Israeli president's office confirmed Saturday Herzog will travel to Turkey to meet with Erdoğan, in a sign of thawing ties.
Herzog will be the first Israeli president to visit Turkey for a state visit since 2003. He will be received by Erdoğan in the country's capital on Wednesday before continuing to Istanbul, where he will meet members of the Jewish community.
"The two presidents will discuss various bilateral issues, including Israel-Turkey relations and the potential for expanding collaboration between their respective states and peoples in various fields," Herzog's office said.
Relations between Turkey and Israel froze over after the deaths of 10 civilians in an Israeli raid on a Turkish flotilla carrying aid for the Gaza Strip in 2010.
A 2015 reconciliation pact formally restored ties, but neither country returned an ambassador to post, with Erdoğan frequently criticizing Israeli actions in Palestine.
Israel and Turkey mutually expelled ambassadors in 2018 and relations have remained prickly, but Ankara has recently worked to improve relations with several countries in the region as part of a normalization process launched in 2020.
In recent months, the two countries have been working on a rapprochement, with Erdoğan, a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, holding telephone talks with Herzog.
In January, Erdoğan called Herzog's planned visit an opportunity to "open a new chapter in relations between Turkey and Israel."
Over the past two weeks, Herzog visited Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration to reassure them the rapprochement with Turkey would not undermine Israel's ties with its Mediterranean neighbors.
Herzog's office said the visit, which will end on Thursday, was coordinated with the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister's office.
Herzog's spokesperson said the visit was being coordinated with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, adding it will be the first by an Israeli leader since 2008.
Ankara, which supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has condemned Israel's occupation of the West Bank and its policy towards Palestinians, while Israel has called on Turkey to drop support for the Palestinian group Hamas which runs Gaza.
While Erdoğan has spoken to Herzog before, Israel's presidency is a largely ceremonial role. In November, he spoke to Bennett, the first such call to an Israeli prime minister in years.
Last month, Turkey said it would not abandon its commitment to a Palestinian state in order to broker closer ties with Israel. Erdoğan has said energy cooperation could be on the agenda during talks with Herzog.
