The Israeli charge d'affaires in Turkey said on Friday the re-appointment of an ambassador to Ankara could happen within weeks, Reuters reported.
In a roundtable meeting with journalists, Israel's current top representative in Ankara Irit Lillian said the process of re-appointing an ambassador to Turkey was only a matter of "when and not if."
"It's only because of elections in Israel that things might be delayed on the Israeli side but I hope it will be on time and it will be just a few more weeks and the process will be over," she explained, according to Reuters.
Lillian reiterated the challenges to the ties, saying that the biggest obstacle to the "positive tendency seen throughout the year" was the existence of an Hamas office in Istanbul.
"There are plenty of challenges, but from our point of view, one of the main obstacles is the Hamas office in Istanbul," she said.
"Hamas is a terrorist organization, and it is no secret that Israel expects Turkey to close this office and send the activists there away from here," Lillian added.
Her comments come days after Israel and Turkey announced they were restoring full diplomatic relations in the latest step in months of reconciliation between the two countries.
In July of 2021, Turkey and Israel agreed to work towards improving their strained relations after a rare phone call between their presidents. In that phone call, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called President Isaac Herzog, to congratulate him on taking office.
While Israel and Turkey have diplomatic relations, those relations have been strained in recent years as Erdogan, who is a strong advocate of Palestinian Arab rights, has frequently criticized Israel.
The two countries signed a comprehensive reconciliation deal in 2016, ending a six-year diplomatic standoff following a violent encounter between Israeli soldiers and Islamist radicals on a ship attempting to break through the security blockade on Gaza.
Even since the signing of that agreement, the Islamist Turkish President has continued his verbal attacks on Israel.
In the past, Erdogan has accused Israel of being a “terrorist state”, and called former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “terrorist”, after IDF forces opened fire on infiltrators during a Hamas-led confrontation on the Israel-Gaza border.
He also stated that his country will oppose anyone who supports Israel and that Turkey will continue to promote the Palestinian cause regardless of efforts to undermine it mainly by supporters of the Israeli regime.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)