Foreign Minister Yair Lapid flew to Ankara on Thursday, where he met with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Following the meeting, Cavusoglu vowed that “we won’t allow Israelis to be harmed in our country,” referring to the Iranian attempts to kidnap and murder Israelis

Earlier on Thursday, Turkish media revealed that Turkish intelligence authorities thwarted the abduction and murder of Israelis in Istanbul, including a former Israeli ambassador and his wife. Eight members of an Iranian cell were arrested.

Lapid said: “In recent weeks, the lives of Israeli citizens have been saved thanks to security and diplomatic cooperation between Israel and Türkiye. Just today, it was published that Turkish intelligence recently foiled an Iranian plot in Istanbul. And these efforts are ongoing. We are full of appreciation for the Turkish government for this professional and coordinated activity.”

“In the last year, there was great progress in the relations between Israel and Turkiye. We began to hold discussions on returning ambassadors in the near future, and on improving our economic and political dialogue. I hope we will complete these steps soon.”

Geçti?imiz y?l ?srail-Türkiye ili?kilerinde büyük geli?meler ya?and?. K?sa süre önce geldi?im Ankara’da, TC D??i?leri Bakan?, dostum @MevlutCavusoglu ile bulu?mak beni memnun etti. Ülkelerimiz aras?ndaki siyasi ili?kileri ve güvenlik i?birli?ini güçlendirmeye devam edece?iz. ???? pic.twitter.com/jX0xF0Ff86

— ???? ???? – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) June 23, 2022

Lapid is returning to Israel on Thursday evening.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)