Israel views the visit this week by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu as especially significant as it is the first visit by a senior Turkish official to Israel in 15 years.
The government hopes that this is the first step in the full restoration of diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey, which were suspended under Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, this is still no dialogue between the sides about advancing meetings at the highest level - between President Erdogan and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
The expectation in Jerusalem is that as part of the thawing of relations between Israel and Turkey, the Turkish government will act against the Hamas terrorist organization and moderate its rhetoric vis a vis Israel. Among other things, Israel intends to convey the message that Turkey's hosting of Hamas officials is no longer acceptable.
During the talks with the Turkish Minister, a number of issues will be brought up, including the desire to initially increase tourism and sign aviation agreements between the countries.
Tomorrow, Çavuşoğlu will visit the Temple Mount. As this will be considered a private visit, he will not be accompanied by any Israelis and his security will be provided by the Waqf.