Turkey’s new envoy to Israel, Kemal Okem, has arrived in the Jewish State, several days after his Israeli counterpart presented his credentials in Ankara to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Okem is a foreign policy expert and is known to be a close associate of the Turkish president.
The new ambassador handed a copy of his credentials to Foreign Ministry Director-General Meron Reuben early Sunday in an informal ceremony that came in advance of the more elaborate proceedings slated to take place Monday at the official Presidential Residence in Jerusalem.
Okem arrived on Saturday night. The act of officially presenting his credentials to President Reuven Rivlin will close the curtain on one of the most difficult chapters in the history of Turkish-Israeli relations.
