Turkish paper: UAV delivery delay behind cancellation of military drill

[henank]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3789826,00.html

So, nothing to do with the Gaza war after all.

What spurred the cancellation of this week's NATO air force exercise in Turkey was a delay in the delivery of unmanned aerial vehicles to Turkey by Israel, and not Turkish objection to Israel's conduct in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead, an air force official told Turkey's Zaman newspaper on Wednesday.


The source told the paper: "Turkey needs those vehicles in its fight against terror. What led to the recent crisis between Turkey and Israel was the delay in the delivery."

...

According to the report, Turkey purchased 10 UAVs four years ago, for the price of $180 million from the Israeli Aerospace Industries and a private company.

...

The source said Erdogan had promised to back any sanctions the Turkish military would impose on Israel for the delay, adding, "The General Staff asked Israeli authorities one last time about the delivery of the Herons. Israeli authorities refused to give an exact date and said they planned to deliver the vehicles by the end of 2009, whereupon the General Staff decided to cancel the international part of the exercises.”

[bemildred]

1. Turkey PM: My people rejected Israeli participation in NATO drill

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said that "diplomatic sensitivities" led his government to ban Israel from a joint NATO air force drill, French news agency AFP reported.

"There is military cooperation between Turkey and Israel...but currently there are diplomatic sensitivities that we have to take into consideration," AFP quoted Edrogan as telling the Dubai-based channel Al-Arabiya.

---

The Turkish army has yet to use two of the 10 drones, which arrived in Turkey last November after an almost two-year delay, due to persistent technical problems, the Turkish paper reported. The report went on to quote Turkish government spokesperson and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek as saying that a proposal for the cancellation of the drill came from the General Staff as a response to yet another delay in the delivery of the Israeli UAVs to Turkey. "The proposal for cancellation came from the General Staff, not the government. However, there was no disagreement between the two bodies on the decision," Cicek was quoted as saying.

The report stressed that the Turkish government had no hand in the decision to cancel the exercise. "The Anatolian Eagle is an organization of the Turkish Armed Forces. It is up to the air forces and the General Staff to decide on which countries will participate in the exercises. The government has not interfered in the decision," Cicek was quoted as saying.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1121022.html

[bemildred]

2. FM summons ambassador in Ankara over anti-Israeli Turkish TV show

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday summoned Israel's ambassador to Turkey for a discussion concerning the anti-Israeli drama 'Ayrilik' ('Farewell'), which recently aired on Ankara's popular state-run television channel TRT1.

The show, which centers on a love triangle taking place amid clashes between Palestinians and IDF soldiers during Operation Cast Lead, portrays Israel's security forces as heartless killers.

" is incitement to the gravest degree, even graver because it airs on national television," said Lieberman on Wednesday, adding that the show "portrays Israel as a murderer of children."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255547719496&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[bemildred]

3. Senior diplomat discusses "Ayrilik" with acting Turkish envoy

Turkey's acting ambassador in Israel, Jailan Ozen, met with Foreign Ministry official Naor Gilon in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon to discuss the anti-Israeli drama "Ayrilik" ("Farewell") which premiered on Turkey's popular state-run station TRT1 on Tuesday.

Following the meeting, Ozen declined to comment to the press, Army Radio reported.

Prior to the meeting, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy said that Gilon would tell the Turkish diplomat how shocked Israel was with the "hate-inciting television drama, which depicted distorted facts."

Israel was hurt and offended because the show was broadcast in a country that has a long history of good relations with Israel and the Jewish people, Levy said.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255547726093&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[grassfed]

4. Israeli anger over Turkish TV show - Deteriorating Relations

Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, has ordered officials to summon Turkey's ambassador in Israel and lodge a protest over a Turkish television series that Israel says portrays its soldiers murdering Palestinian children.

The move is the latest twist in worsening relations between the two countries which have traditionally had close defence ties.

An Israeli foreign ministry statement quoted Lieberman as saying that the programme, screened by Turkish state television, constituted incitement against Israel "at the most grave level".

Israeli television screened a clip on Wednesday that it said was from the series, showing an actor dressed as an Israeli soldier taking aim at a smiling young girl and shooting her in the chest from point-blank range.

'Deteriorating relations'

Israeli army radio said the show, about the tribulations of a Palestinian family, was aired on Tuesday on Turkey's TRT One channel and also depicted troops killing a Palestinian newborn baby delivered after its mother went into labour at an Israeli roadblock.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/10/2009101512841168429.html