Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed Tuesday that Turkey had banned President Isaac Herzog from crossing its airspace earlier this week, forcing the Israeli leader to cancel a planned visit to the UN climate conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Herzog’s office announced Saturday that he would not attend the environmental summit due to “security considerations.”
However, according to the Ynet news site, Azerbaijani officials disputed the idea that their country was not safe enough for Herzog to visit, and said the real reason for the cancellation was the refusal to Turkey.
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At a press conference at the G20 summit in Brazil on Tuesday, Erdogan confirmed that Herzog had indeed been prevented from flying over Turkey on the official Zion Wing plane, due to opposition from the Turkey to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
“Regarding the Israeli president going to Azerbaijan for the COP summit, we did not allow him to use our airspace,” Turkish media said in response to a question about pressure from the Turkey on Israel to end the fighting.
“There are other areas, other opportunities, we told him to leave from there… but I don’t know if he was able to leave or not,” Erdogan added.
The Sion Wing, the prime minister’s official plane, awaits a flight to the United States, June 22, 2024. (Lazar Berman/Times of Israel)
The incident marks the latest example of a country with diplomatic ties to Israel preventing an Israeli leader from using its airspace for a state visit to express its displeasure, after Amman refused in 2021 to allowing Prime Minister Netanyahu to fly over Jordan, forcing him to cancel a trip to the United Arab Emirates.
Israel’s ally Azerbaijan is bordered by Iran to the south, and a direct flight to Baku from Israel would have to fly over the Mediterranean Sea and pass through Turkey and Georgia – something Erdogan has prevented – or pass through over Syria, Iraq and Iran, which is not possible for an Israeli plane.
The rest of the Israeli delegation to the UN conference, which includes three ministers and dozens of officials, is attending the conference as planned. She arrived in Azerbaijan on November 11, apparently on commercial flights. via Georgia.
The delegation is placed under high security, given Azerbaijan’s proximity to Iran.
Erdogan has harshly criticized Israel throughout the war, which was sparked by the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. In May, he ended the strong economic ties that united the two countries.
Israel and Turkey have had an up-and-down relationship for years, but major efforts by Erdogan and Herzog in 2022 allowed the two countries to briefly enjoy warmer relations than they had in more than ‘a decade.
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