After announcing the revival of full diplomatic ties and will return of ambassadors to each other's countries, officials in Israel and Turkey said the envoys are set to be appointed before the November 1 elections.
If everything goes as planned, Israel's next ambassador to Turkey is set to become the esteemed diplomat Irit Lillian, 60, who for the past year and a half served as the commissioner of the Israeli embassy in Ankara. She also apparently played a key role in the reconciliation process between the two countries.
Lillian maintained close ties with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's office, and especially with his senior advisor İbrahim Kalın, her Turkish counterpart responsible for the reconciliation process. She is also set to have built a good relationship with the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
The Israeli diplomat also played a decisive role in the happy ending to the diplomatic affair in which an Israeli couple returned home after being held in a Turkish prison over espionage accusations.
Lillian has served as Israel's ambassador to Bulgaria from 2015 to 2019, and is considered an expert on Turkey.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid's office and the Foreign Ministry don't anticipate any legal obstacles to appointment of Lillian by the caretaker government tenure, due to the fact that she is considered a professional diplomat rather than a political appointee.
Still, the appointment requires legal consultations and it is not certain that Lapid will receive the consent of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
When it comes to candidates who may to fill the role of Turkey's ambassador to Israel, things appear to be not as clear. Turkey recalled its former ambassador in 2018 after the U.S. moved its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Since then, the embassy has been run by a relatively inexperienced caretaker diplomat.
According to assessments, Erdogan is also interested appointing an ambassador before Israel's elections in November. This is partly because of his concern that if Benjamin Netanyahu returns to office, the normalization process will stall.
Turkey reportedly plans to appoint a professional diplomat - an ambassador with diplomatic experience, but according to sources in Turkey, there is a chance Erdogan will make a political appointment last minute.
Israel is concerned that Erdogan will decide to appoint Ufuk Ulutas, a name that frequently hits the Turkish headlines. Ulutas is the of the Center for Strategic Research at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is closely affiliated with the ruling party in Turkey.
Ulutas is perceived as anti-Israel, and even wrote an article, rejecting the Jewish state's right to exist. In the article, he accused Israel of carrying out ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. In a series of tweets, Ulutas attacked the normalization between the UAE and Israel following the signing of the Abraham Accords.
Many Israeli officials are strongly advising against the appointing of the Turkish academic, and believe agreeing to such would be a mistake.
President Isaac Herzog discussed the renewed diplomatic relations with his Turkish counterpart on Friday. Herzog congratulated Erdogan on his contribution to the agreement to extract wheat from the war-torn Ukraine, and on his meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Erdogan thanked Herzog for his efforts to strengthen ties between Israel and Turkey.