Karel VALANSİ

The most effective and emotional Yom HaShoah ceremony I´ve attended in recent years was held in the Ashkenazi Synagogue of Istanbul on Monday night. Jilda Abravay and Igal Mevorah´s presentations, Sarah Chitrik´s music, and the speech made by Dr. Mehmet Ali Tuğtan of Bilgi University left their marks on this significant ceremony.

Acting Head of Post of the Consulate General of Israel in Istanbul, Ehud Moshe Eitam started his position in March 2019 in a very delicate time not just for Turkish-Israeli relations but also due to the pandemic. Once close allies, relations between Israel and Turkey have been strained for over a decade following the Cast Lead Operation in December 2008. Diplomatic relations were restored in 2016, but two years later, Turkey recalled its ambassador and asked Israel´s to leave in protest of Israel´s response to rioting on the Gaza border. Only after the historic visit of Israel´s President Isaac Herzog to Ankara in March 2022 did the two sides announce that they would be restoring full diplomatic ties, which picked up pace in 2022. Eitam witnessed the improvement of bilateral relations, which in the end reached the long waited normalization. We talked with him about the difficulties and opportunities encountered working in Turkey, the future of Turkish-Israeli relations, and his plans for the future, following his retirement from the ministry of foreign affairs.

One of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded in Turkey struck on February 6 in southern Turkey. More than 40,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured. One of the first countries to send aid to the affected areas was Israel which responded immediately to the international appeal from Turkey. We talked with Israel´s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat, about the Israeli rescue operations, and Turkey-Israel bilateral relations.

Turkey and Israel have officially exchanged ambassadors after years of tense relations. Israel´s ambassador to Turkey Irit Lillian presented her credentials to President Erdogan on December 27th. One of Israel´s top diplomats, Lillian, had been working tirelessly as the chargé d´affaires at the embassy in Ankara to mend bilateral relations. Lillian shared her thoughts on Turkey-Israel relations for Shalom readers. A big fan of Turkish culture, traditional music and cuisine, the ambassador is learning Turkish and promised to answer a question in Turkish in our next interview.

The 2022 results of the ´Turkey Trends´ research which has been keeping its finger on the pulse of Turkey for 13 years, were announced at a press conference. According to face-to-face interviews conducted with a thousand people over the age of 18 in 26 provinces, Turkey´s main problems are the economy, counterterrorism, and refugee problems. While the USA and Israel maintain their top positions on the threat list, the participants stated that in the elections they would vote for AKP (35.3%), CHP (24.5%), MHP (8.9%), IYI [Good] Party (10.2%), and HDP (9.5%).

During his visit to Istanbul, we met with Mr. Javier Hergueta, the Ambassador of Spain to Ankara. We discussed Turkey-EU relations. We also talked about the Covid and vaccination situation in Spain, the second-generation vaccine that they are developing, and the law that grants Spanish nationality to Sephardic people.

This year La Autoridad Nasionala del Ladino prepared a special Ladino day. ´El Dia Mundial del Ladino´ was streamed via Zoom on the evening of March 17th. We talked to the Ambassador of Spain to Ankara Javier Hergueta due to this special occassion.