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Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the phone
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Ognen Teofilovski / Reuters/ REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan want to continue working to improve Israeli-Turkish relations.
Both announced this after a phone call on Thursday.
According to a spokesman for Netanyahu, in the approximately twelve-minute conversation, they agreed to “inaugurate a new era in relations between Turkey and Israel”.
It was the first conversation between the two in years.
According to the Turkish Presidential Office, the two agreed "to maintain and sustainably strengthen relations based on respect for mutual interests." The phone call was initiated by Netanyahu to express his condolences to Erdoğan after the Istanbul attack.
During a previous tenure of Netanyahu as head of government, the once close allies had fallen out.
Since the Gaza crisis in 2018, which escalated around the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, the two countries have not had ambassadors in the other country for several years.
This summer, full diplomatic relations were resumed under the incumbent government.
At the end of September, Yair Lapid was the first Israeli head of government to meet the Turkish president in 15 years.
Netanyahu's Likud party emerged as the strongest force in the November 1 parliamentary elections.
At the weekend he was tasked with forming a government.
If he succeeds, it would be his second comeback to the post of prime minister.
Coalition talks are currently underway.
The new parliament has already met for its constituent session this week.
At the opening ceremony for the swearing-in of the 25th Knesset on Tuesday, Israeli President Yizchak Herzog called for unity.
The citizens of Israel are proud of their country, but at the same time they are "exhausted by the power struggles and their consequences".
It was the fifth election in just three and a half years.
According to Herzog, it is now the responsibility of the elected representatives to "continue to strengthen the partnership between all layers of Israeli society, all faiths and religions".
dop/dpa