Foreign Ministry Director-General Alon Ushpiz secretly visited Turkey last month in order to prepare for President Issac Herzog’s trip there, which is expected to take place next month, Ynet reported on Wednesday.

The report said that Ushpiz met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s senior adviser, Ibrahim Kalin.

Herzog’s visit will be the first by a senior Israeli leader in six years. In 2016, then-Foreign Ministry Director-General Yuval Rotem visited Turkey after a suicide bombing in Istanbul killed three Israeli tourists.

The Foreign Ministry refused to comment on the report.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)