Turkey Closed Skies to Israel President Who Skipped COP29

Turkey denied permission for Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s plane to fly through its airspace to Azerbaijan to attend the COP29 climate summit, which he skipped. Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s administration closed the shortest and safest route for Herzog to travel to the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, amid tensions over Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon. Herzog’s office announced Saturday that he will not attend the summit, citing security considerations without elaborating.

Israel’s ministers of environmental protection, energy, and transportation are all attending COP29.

Diplomatic talks to try to persuade Turkey to lift the flight ban on Herzog’s plane yielded no result.

Erdogan is due to arrive in Brazil on Sunday for the Group of 20 summit, where he is expected to call on other leaders to impose an arms embargo against Israel, once a close military ally of Turkey. Erdogan has embraced Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union, and is seeking to pressure Israel to halt strikes on the Palestinian militant group in retaliation for the deadly October 7th 2023 attack that killed 1,200 people. More than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military campaign, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilian casualties.

Before the fighting erupted in Gaza, Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were exploring ways to increase cooperation in energy and trade, and advance a nascent thaw in relations after more than a decade of tensions. Last May, Turkey announced a complete trade boycott against Israel. Commercial flights between Istanbul and Tel Aviv were also halted after the conflict began.