Improving Turkish-Israeli relations will strengthen regional stability, the Israeli foreign minister said on Tuesday.
Yair Lapid's remarks came during his visit to the Greek capital Athens, where he arrived on Tuesday for a tripartite meeting among foreign ministers of Israel, Greece, and the Greek Cypriot administration.
Referring to the "warming of relations" between Turkey and Israel, Lapid said "it is a blessed chance whose time has come," according to a statement by Israel's Foreign Ministry.
"It also produces a great opportunity to deepen our ties and strengthen regional stability," he also noted.
The tripartite meeting between Greece, Israel and Cypriot Greek administration foreign ministers in Athens focused on the latest developments in the wider Eastern Mediterranean region, including energy and security issues and the group discussed further strengthening trilateral ties.
Lapid said on Twitter that his meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and Greek Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides took place during a complicated time.
"There is a war in Europe. Once again, a large and powerful country has invaded a smaller neighbor without any justification. Once again, the ground is soaked with the blood of innocent civilians," he said.
Maintaining that the war stands to change European and Middle Eastern energy markets, Lapid said the parties are examining further economic cooperation, with an emphasis on the energy market.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan earlier called the March 9 visit of his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog to the Turkish capital Ankara "a new turning point."
Expressing his appreciation for Herzog's visit to Turkey, Erdoğan said strengthening the ties with Israel is of great importance for regional stability and peace as well as for the two countries.
He also underlined that Turkey has the experience and capacity to implement big energy projects in the Eastern Mediterranean region, adding: "I expressed to Mr. President (Herzog) that we are ready to cooperate in projects to be carried out in the fields of energy and energy security. Recent developments in our region have once again demonstrated the importance of energy security."
The two countries could work together to carry Israeli natural gas to Europe, reviving an idea first discussed more than 20 years ago. Plans for a subsea pipeline from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe, excluding Turkey, have stalled after the United States expressed misgivings in January.
Herzog for his part said the aim is to lay foundations for the development of friendly relations between Turkey, Israel, and the peoples of the two countries.
"Israel and Turkey can and should engage in a cooperation that will impact this region we all call home," Herzog said.
Herzog visited Turkey last month to meet Erdoğan, the first visit by an Israeli head of state since 2007, as the countries seek to mend fractured ties.
More recently, on April 1, Erdoğan held a phone call with Herzog to discuss bilateral relations and regional issues.
Natural gas cooperation is among the vital steps Turkey and Israel can take in a bid to mend ties, and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett could visit Turkey, Erdoğan has also said.
Following the crisis in its relations with Turkey during the last decade, Israel created a strategic alliance with Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, two actors with long-standing acrimony toward Turkey, and in recent years held regular trilateral meetings and conducted joint military drills.
The trio was part of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum established in 2019 with other states, including Egypt and Jordan – without Turkey.
In 2020, Israel, Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration signed the EastMed deal for a pipeline to ship gas from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe, triggering objections from Ankara.
The United States has since also raised concern about the project, citing possible issues over its "commercial viability."
In recent months, the two regional powers have sought a rapprochement after nearly a decade of broken ties. Turkey has recently been working to improve relations with several countries in the region as part of a normalization process launched in 2020.
Ankara, which supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has condemned Israel's occupation of the West Bank and its policy toward Palestinians, while Israel has called on Turkey to drop support for the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which runs Gaza. Turkey has said it would not abandon its commitment to Palestine in order to broker closer ties with Israel.
