Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the one who announced the appointment of his new ambassador to Israel . A moment before boarding a plane, Erdoğan faced the media, explained that “after they (Israel) made a selection,” referring to the appointment of diplomat Eitan Na’eh as Israel’s ambassador to Turkey, “it’s our turn to fulfill the agreement.”

Kemal Ökem, 50, an expert in Middle Eastern affairs, was snatched from his position as foreign policy advisor to the Turkish prime minister and sent to do his homework. He has previously served as a diplomat in Britain and Saudi Arabia.

The journalists in Turkey, those who survived the arrests and the shutdown of leading media outlets, are covering the Israeli ambassador’s appointment with kit gloves. He is receiving news headlines, has been defined as a worthy appointment, and his hosts seem to be particularly interested in one of his former position—Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan. In Turkey, as in Israel, Azerbaijan is seen as a country with special strategic importance due to its close neighbor, Iran, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is almost as preoccupied with it as Erdoğan is.

Suddenly, after six years of a diplomatic crisis, Erdogan urgently wants to turn over a new leaf. It’s hard to say, however, that Ankara and Jerusalem see eye to eye on current affairs. Erdoğan wants to get rid of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Netanyahu is indifferent. Erdoğan suspects that Israel is luring the Kurds behind his back, and Israel isn’t denying it. Turkey is stuck in a deep crisis in its relations with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is consistently rejecting Ankara’s courting efforts because of his quarrels with the Muslim Brotherhood. Erdoğan is gritting his teeth over the collaborations in Sinai.

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