Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Israeli President Yitzchak Herzog on Thursday to express his condolences on the loss of his mother.

Aura Herzog, z’l, who was also the almanah of Israel’s sixth president, Chaim Herzog, passed away earlier this week at the age of 97.

Erdogan’s phone call is the latest in several conversations he had with Israeli leaders – the first such contact since 2013.

It was his second conversation with Herzog and he also held a phone conversation with Prime Minister Naftali Bennet in November, during which the latter thanked him for the release of the Israeli couple who were jailed for a week in Istanbul.

In recent months, Erdogan has repeatedly expressed his desire for closer ties with Israel.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)