Israeli president cancelled COP29 visit 'due to Turkey’s refusal to let him use its airspace'

Israeli President Isaac Herzog reportedly cancelled his visit to the COP 29 climate conference in Baku due to Turkey’s refusal to allow his official plane – known as Wings of Zion – to fly over its airspace, Israeli media reported on Sunday, citing Azerbaijani local media.

Herzog’s office had earlier announced that he was cancelling the trip for "security reasons".

However, Azerbaijani officials balked at the way the decision was framed, telling the local Caliber News website there were no security issues and the real reason was due to Ankara's refusal to allow Herzog’s plane to traverse through Turkish airspace.

An Azerbaijani official told Ynet there had been "intensive negotiations through diplomatic channels that lasted for several days" between Israel and Turkey but these "did not yield results".

In response to Israel’s claims about security, the official said that a high level of security is guaranteed in Azerbaijan, citing a previous visit by Herzog to the capital Baku on 30 May.

"It is not an exaggeration to say that Baku is one of the safest cities in the world," he said.

While Azerbaijan has close relations with Israel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised its genocidal war on Gaza, urging Israel’s Western allies to take "deterrent steps" against it.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed nearly 44,000 Palestinians and injured over 103,000 more since it began in October 2023.

At the beginning of the war, Herzog said that civilians in Gaza were "responsible" for Hamas’s surprise 7 October attack on Israel.

Erdogan announced last week that Turkey was severing relations with Israel but this was downplayed by Israeli officials and the two countries’ embassies to each other are still operating.