Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu landed in Israel on Tuesday and, according to his itinerary, he plans on visiting the Temple Mount. It is unusual for visiting dignitaries to ascend to the site.

Pointedly, his first meeting will be with Palestinian officials in Ramallah. On Wednesday, he will visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem and meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

Çavuşoğlu will have lunch with Israel’s Tourism Minister and then hold a private tour of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. 

The visit is extraordinary and troubling, possibly intended to send a message that Turkey supports Palestinian dominance at Judaism’s holiest site. After last month’s wave of Palestinian violence at the site, Turkey condemned Israel, posting, “Turkey always stands with Palestine,” on Twitter.

He later told the media that Turkey’s political-economic relations with Israel are separate from the country’s commitment to the Jerusalem cause and that “Turkey will continue to defend the holy city and Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Turkey’s relations with Israel have also been marred by providing financial and logistical support to the Hamas terrorist group, allowing the terrorist operatives to establish operating centers and even issuing them passports to travel to other countries.

Last month, this relationship was rocked when the Turkish government deported several Hamas terrorists. Also, last month, the Turkish embassy in Israel condemned the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, leading to Hamas in Gaza issuing a statement denouncing Turkey.

According to Kan News, Çavuşoğlu wants to visit the Temple Mount without Israeli officials or security.

Later on Wednesday, Çavuşoğlu will attend an economic event in Tel Aviv and meet with Turkish expatriates in Israel.

The announcement of Çavuşoğlu’s trip on the Turkish government website emphasized his meetings with the PA, noting that he will meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas but will not be meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

President Isaac Herzog visited Istanbul in March, at which time the two countries began discussing an exchange of ambassadors. Turkey and Israel had lowered the level of diplomatic representation to chargé d’affaires in 2018 after Turkey protested the latter’s killing of scores of civilian Palestinians in a rally against the United States’ decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Herzog’s trip was the first top-level visit since then-prime minister Ehud Olmert’s in 2008 and the first such visit by a Turkish foreign minister in 15 years.

Ties between Israel and Turkey collapsed in 2010 following the death of 10 civilians in an IDF raid on the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship, part of a flotilla trying to breach a blockade of Gaza illegally. Armed activists attacked IDF commandoes as they boarded the ship.

Turkey is also seeking to normalize ties with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom have normalized relations with Israel.