Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday (September 20th) in New York, as relations between the two countries have warmed in recent months.
Yair Lapid is due to travel to New York on Monday evening, where he is to deliver a speech Thursday at the General Assembly, the Israeli prime minister's office said.
His meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled for Tuesday.
After months of diplomatic warming, Israel and Turkey announced on August 17 the full restoration of their bilateral relations and the return of ambassadors to both countries.
Relations between the two countries were strained in 2010 after the deadly assault by Israeli forces on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was trying to deliver aid to Gaza, a Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade and controlled by the Islamists of the Hamas.
In early September, a first Turkish warship docked in Israel for the first time since 2010, following the resumption of relations between the two countries.
The Turkish president, a fervent defender of the Palestinian cause, has in the past criticized Israeli policies towards the Palestinians.
But less than a year from the presidential election scheduled for mid-June 2023, he is stepping up initiatives to normalize relations with several regional powers - including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - in search of investment and of tourist manna.
