A pro-Palestinian group in the Turkish capital staged a protest outside the Israeli Embassy on Monday as Israel’s new ambassador to Turkey arrived in Ankara to serve as the first official envoy since a six-year rift severely strained diplomatic relations.
Protestors voiced their outrage against proposed Israeli legislation that would ban the Muslim call to prayer via loudspeakers at mosques in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Meanwhile on Monday, Eitan Naeh, Israel’s new ambassador to Turkey, presented his credentials to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a ceremony at the presidential palace in Ankara.
The ties between Turkey and Israel had been tense since 2010, when the Israeli navy killed nine Turkish and one Turkish-American pro-Palestinian activists who were part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla heading to Gaza to deliver aid.