Israeli embassy in Ankara to remain open with limited staff

Left empty for over 2 years, Israel said weighing closure of Istanbul consulate

Source says Israel is spending a lot of money on premises that have been left vacant since late 2023, after relations with Ankara soured again over outbreak of Gaza war

Israel is considering closing its consulate in Istanbul, which was targeted in a shooting in April, an Israeli source told AFP on Wednesday.

Israel’s embassy in Ankara will remain open, but still shorn of diplomatic personnel after their evacuation in the wake of the October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israeli soil by Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza.

Diplomats were likewise pulled from the Istanbul consulate, located in a business district of Turkey’s largest city, with both institutions staffed with Turkish personnel since.

“The issue is under discussion. No decision has been made,” insisted the source, referring to plans to demolish the building housing the Istanbul consulate as part of earthquake preparation measures.

“Some argue these vacant premises, that belong to us, are costing us a lot of money,” the source said.

It comes after a shooting took place on April 7 near the building.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, while authorities blamed a “terrorist organization which exploits religion,” without giving further details.

Turkey is now represented in Israel by a charge d’affaires after its last ambassador was recalled in the aftermath of October 7 and the sharp escalation in anti-Israel rhetoric from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan has regularly spoken out about Israel’s war in Gaza, labeling it a “genocide” — a charge that Israel rejects — and has compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

Turkey’s Jewish community comprises some 15,000 people, down from 55,000 in the 1950s.

In 1949, the country became the first Muslim state to recognize Israel.

The two countries re-established diplomatic links in 2016 after a six-year hiatus from May 2010, when Israeli forces raided a “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” in international waters. Ten Turkish activists were killed in the ensuing violent confrontation with Israeli naval commandos, who were attacked with clubs and bars when they boarded the Mavi Marmara ship.

Relations soured again two years later, however, when Ankara withdrew its ambassador to Israel in May 2018 and threw out the Israeli envoy after deadly clashes along the Gaza border.

The two countries reinstated their respective envoys in 2022, after announcing the full restoration of diplomatic ties that August.