Turkey denies agreement for selling water to Israel
Turkey-Israel, Economics, 1/7/2004

The Turkish ministry of energy yesterday denied news which talked about signing on Monday with Israel an agreement to export water, according to the British daily, the Guardian.

The spokesman for the ministry, Bland Othman, said that there are no negotiations to this effect, and that the Turkish minister did not get an invitation to visit Israel. Othman added "there is nothing new so far."

He explained that the minister of energy, Helmi Guller, did not receive an invitation to head for Israel in order to discuss this issue. He added "when the minister receives an invitation, he will study the possibility of fulfilling it. But for the time being the matter relates merely to intentions, expressed by Israel."

The British daily talked about the agreement of providing Israel with water in exchange for Israeli "weapons," finalized in Jerusalem between the Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and the former Turkish minister of energy Zaki Jakan, who was succeeded by Helmi Guller.

The Israeli infrastructure minister, Youssef Bartiski, announced on Monday that the government agreed to a plan to import 50 million cubic meters of water from Turkey along 20 years, noting that the plan aims at strengthening relations between the two countries.

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