Erdogan Confirms He Prevented Israeli President from Using Turkish Airspace

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, confirmed that Turkey recently did not allow Isaac Herzog, the President of Israel, to enter its airspace, forcing him to cancel his planned trip to Baku to attend the UN COP 29 climate change conference. Herzog's office announced on Saturday that he would not participate in the conference due to 'security considerations.' Erdogan confirmed on Tuesday, November 29, during a press conference at the G20 leaders' summit in Brazil, that the Israeli President was banned from flying over Turkey due to Turkey's opposition to the Gaza war. In response to a question about Ankara's pressure on Israel to end the war, he said, 'Since the President of Israel was heading to Azerbaijan to attend the COP 29 summit, we did not allow him to use our airspace.' He added, 'There are other places and other ways. We told him to travel through those routes... Now I do not know if he was able to go or not.' Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli leaders have exchanged severe verbal attacks, with Erdogan mentioning the example of Nagorno-Karabakh and Libya, suggesting the possibility of military action by Ankara against Israel, while Israel reminded the Turkish President of Saddam Hussein's fate.