Kallas visited Turkey this week alongside European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos and Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner as part of a high-level trip to aimed at fostering deeper ties with Ankara and ahead of the NATO Summit in Ankara on 7-8 July.

Kaja Kallas met with the Turkish leader without mentioning any of his “brutal human rights violations,” said Gideon Sa’ar.

 

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar lashed out at E.U. foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas  for holding a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Kallas visited Turkey this week alongside European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos and Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner as part of a high-level trip to aimed at fostering deeper ties with Ankara at a moment when wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are reshaping Europe’s security priorities.

The visit took place ahead of the NATO Summit in Ankara on 7-8 July.

‘’The visit is an opportunity to review EU-Türkiye relations, discuss common challenges in an increasingly volatile geopolitical environment and explore additional avenues for cooperation, with Türkiye being a candidate country and a NATO Ally,’’ the EU’s external service said.

“It was good to speak with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about further strengthening E.U.-Türkiye relations and the importance of good neighbourly relations,” Kallas wrote on X,  adding that Turkey is a “key partner” and a candidate to join the European Union.

On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar denounced Kallas’s post as a “masterclass in hypocrisy.”

“You won’t find a single word here about: The brutal human rights violations in Turkey, which were on display again just weeks ago when a Turkish court removed the newly elected leader of the main opposition party from office; peaceful protesters being met with force and mass detentions; Erdoğan’s main challenger remaining behind bars; opposition mayors being arrested; journalists facing mounting restrictions; and political opponents being increasingly targeted through the courts,” wrote Sa’ar.

However, a join press release published on Thursday by Türkiye’s Foreign Minister M Hakan Fidan, Kallas and the EU Commissioners following their meeting in Ankara, stated: ‘’The EU side stressed, in the context of enlargement, the need of strengthening the rule of law, the protection of fundamental rights and ensuring high democratic standards.’’

Turkey’s EU accession bid has stalled for years, while Erdoğan continues to face criticism over democratic backsliding and the imprisonment of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu. Members of the European Parliament have urged the Commission delegation to raise rule-of-law concerns during the visit.

In June, Sa’ar announced that he would be cutting ties with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy “until she retracts the blood libel she directed at the world’s only Jewish state,’’ in a reference to reports that the EU foreign affairs chief compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to South Africa under the apartheid regime, during a closed doors high-level meeting in May in Mexico.

Kallas “has for some time now been acting obsessively and with blatant unfairness toward the State of Israel,” Sa’ar wrote.

Responding to Sa’ar’s statement, Kallas said ‘’the EU and Israel have a lot that binds us. I value our dialogue and engagement, and I’m open to continue in that spirit, respectfully and constructively,’’

Since then, Kallas didn’t made any comment on the reported remarks. ‘’I can’t fight the shadows all the time,’’ she said in response to  questions from journalists.

Kallas is a former Estonian prime minister who took up her post as the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy in December 2024. She succeeded Spanish Josep Borrell. Her nomination was received with relief in Jerusalem as she was considered more ‘’neutral’’ compared to Borrell who has shown a constant hostility towards the State of Israel.

But in recent months, Kallas has becoming to be more critical towards Israel in her statements, seeking even  to impose trade sanctions against Jerusalem in the wake of demands from some EU member states.

Accoerding to EU affairs, the change is to be viewed in the context of a  power of infuence  with European Commissioner President Urusula von der Leyen, who is considered tob e more pro-Israel,  on who should within the EU institutions should conduct the EU’s foreign policy.

On July 13, EU Foreign Ministers are expected to discuss imposing trade sanctions against the import of goods from Israeli settlements in Judea, Samaria and the Golan. The European Commission has so far been reluctant to propose such measures which need unanimity among EU member states.