Israel is considering shutting down its consulate in Istanbul, one of its oldest diplomatic missions, following a shooting near the building in April, according to an Israeli source speaking to Agence France-Presse (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 Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas and the subsequent Israeli offensive in Gaza that has killed at least 72,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, injured over 172,000 and caused massive destruction that affected 90% of civilian infrastructure.
Diplomats were likewise pulled from the Istanbul consulate, located in a business district of Türkiye’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.
Türkiye downgraded diplomatic representation with Israel following the outbreak of the Gaza war, recalling its ambassador and maintaining relations at the charge d’affaires level.
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has regularly spoken out against Israel’s response and against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he has compared to Hitler and labelled a perpetrator of “genocide.”
Relations between Türkiye and Israel have experienced repeated periods of tension and normalization over the decades since Ankara’s recognition of Israel in 1949.
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 and killed nine activists, eight of them Turkish citizens, after storming the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara vessel.
The Israeli navy last Monday intercepted a new flotilla to deliver aid for Gaza, the third since Oct. 7, 2023, after setting sail from southern Türkiye last week.
