Turkish pilots trained in Israel

The Turkish daily Huriiet said on Monday that pilots from the Turkish Air Force have been trained on destroying S-300 missiles. The training was conducted at an Israeli base in the framework of military cooperation between the two sides.

The paper added that six Turkish F-16 pilots, military experts and army maintenance officers recently practiced destroying S-300 missiles in Shdema base in Negev district. The paper elaborated that this base is a center for training on challenging surface - air missiles, such as S-300.

Cyprus purchase of S-300 missiles from Russia angered Turkey, which opposed the redeployment of the missiles in the southern sector of the Cypriot island. The Turkish opposition to the redeployment is built on the concern that these missiles constitute a threat to the northern part of the island.

The paper added that Israel has delivered Turkey air - surface "Bobai" missiles which have a 150 km range. The paper added that in the course of the military cooperation accord between the two sides, Israel has accelerated its project to produce Arrow 2 missiles. The project started in Israel in collaboration with Turkey.

In a published statement, The Israeli Foreign Ministry's spokesman denied reports by a Turkish papers as "unfounded," and said that relations between Israel and Turkey "are in no way directed against any party."

A Turkish military delegation will visit Israel this week, whereas a similar Israeli delegation will arrive in Turkey within the coming weeks. Israeli "F-15" jets will also arrive in Turkey to carry out training exercises in Turkish airspace.