President Yitzhak Herzog will leave tomorrow morning (Thursday) for a quick visit to Greece, during which he will hold a series of meetings with high-ranking officials in the Hellenic Republic, as well as with representatives of the local Jewish community.
Among other things, he will meet with President Catherine Scleropoulos and with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsutakis, and with the mayor of the capital, Athens Costas Bakuianis, as part of which the city's signal will also be presented to the president.
Herzog is expected to land back in Israel on Friday.
The state visit to Greece is the first stop in a series of visits planned for Herzog in our region: next week he is expected to take off for Cyprus and mid-March visit Turkey, amid signs from Ankara showing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's desire to warm relations after years of demonstrative coolness.
Kiriakos Mitsutakis, Photo: API
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (archive), Photo: Reuters
In recent years, Israel, Cyprus and Greece have seen a flourishing of relations - including the signing of a joint gas pipeline agreement - partly in light of their shared tensions with Turkey on various issues, including around Turkey's efforts to increase its military presence in the region and expand its territorial economic waters. .
It is possible that the fact that Herzog was visiting Greece and Cyprus before his visit to Ankara was intended to convey the message that rapprochement with the Turks would not come at the expense of relations with the other two Allies.
A few days ago, Herzog said the visit was intended, among other things, to expand cooperation between the parties and in particular on ways of regional cooperation in the fight against the climate crisis in the Mediterranean basin.
"Israel, Greece and Cyprus maintain an alliance of stability in the Mediterranean. My state visits reflect the deep friendships between the peoples and our strategic partnership, which is reflected in, among other things, continuous talks I have held since I took office - with Greek President Scleropolis, with Prime Minister Mitsutolakis. "I also recently hosted him for a friendly conversation during his visit to Israel, and with the President of Cyprus Anastasiadis and their staff," Herzog said this week.
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