Turkish- Israeli military talks

Israel and Turkey on Tuesday resumed a series of talks they had started on Monday in Tel Aviv on military cooperation between the two sides.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense refused to comment on the content of the talks, but the Turkish ambassador in Tel Aviv told journalists that these talks are directly of concern to his country. "We have said clearly we welcome the resumption of our bilateral talks," he said.

The deputy chief of staff in the Turkish Army is leading the Turkish delegation, which includes 30 senior army officers, diplomats and officials from the Ministry of Defense and defense industries, while the Israeli delegation is led by the new director general of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Amos Baron.

The Turkish ambassador denied that the talks aimed at signing contracts to sell Israel attack helicopters co-produced jointly with the Russian Kamanov company to Turkey, as stated last week by the Israeli daily Jerusalem Post, which also said that the Turkish and Israeli sides might also sign a contract at US $1 billion according to which Israel is to renovate Turkish M 60 A 30 tanks.

On December 14 and 17 Israel, Turkey and the US carried out joint naval maneuvers off the southern coasts of Turkey in regional waters and the airspace over the Mediterranean.