A report on the Turkish- Israeli military cooperation
Turkey-Israel, Politics, 3/5/2001

The Arab foreign ministers will discuss in their meeting to be held on March 12 a detailed report on the consequences of the Turkish- Israeli military cooperation against security and stability in the region.

The report stresses that there is a coolness in the Turkish- Israeli relations as it has been noted that Turkey has taken several positive stances revealing a new vision and attitude towards the neighboring Arab states and causes of the region, foremost being its stances concerning the military cooperation with Israel and al-Aqsa Intifada towards which Turkey has pursued a political attitude with Israel and the Arab world.

The report explained that this Turkish political attitude can be classified in the following:

1. abrogating the deal of renovating Turkish tanks with Israel

2. Canceling the visit of the Israeli army chief Shaoul Mofaz to Turkey in October 2000. The Turkish foreign ministry considered the use of weapons in the holy lands as a humiliation for the Feelings of Muslims in the world and in Turkey. And the Turkish dailies launched a campaign of criticism against Israel's brutality. The report added that also among these steps are.

3. The Turkish's army leadership canceling of two important visits to Israel that were due to be held by the commander of the Turkish naval forces and the commander of the Turkish air force in November and December, 2000, in compliance with prevailing atmospheres in which the recent Islamic summit was held in Doha and the continued acts of killing and repression committed by the Israeli occupation army against the Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories.

4. He Turkish naval forces decided to postpone the training military maneuvers " the bride of the sea" which were due December 2000 with the Participation of the USA and Israel.

The report also warned against the fact that the " coolness" in the Israeli- Turkish relations, the Turkish option to maintain an alliance with Israel will be valid and requires from the Arab side carefulness especially Turkey has suspending problems with certain Arab states especially over " the borders, the Waters and the Kurds.

However, the Arab foreign ministers discussed this issue in previous session and expressed their great concern over the continued Turkish- Israeli military co-operation and called on Turkey to re-consider this co-operation which constitutes a grave threat against Arab national security and the region as a whole.

On the other hand, Another report for the Arab League on the problem of the waters of the Tigris and the Euphrates and warned against the development of this co-operation between Turkey and Israel in the field of waters.

The report which was prepared by the Arab League to be debated on the Arab foreign ministers to this effect said that this co-operation constitutes a grave danger on Arab water security as Turkey had given 6 projects in the field of irrigation and agriculture in " al-Ghab" projects to Israeli companies at a cost of USD 1000 million without declaring any bids. A matter which indicates that this co-operation in the area of waters inflects damages in the interests of Syria and Iraq to the waters.

The report viewed the measures taken by the Turkish side in implementing its projects in al-Ghab project without prior consultation with the coast- sharing states, namely Syria and Iraq as illegal.

Previous Stories:
  Israeli official to visit Turkey   (2/27/2001)
  Bin Ami to visit Turkey on Friday   (1/18/2001)
  Turkish foreign minister visits Israel   (11/18/2000)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search