The Jordan Times.com (Jordanie) / Agencies : "Turkey bars Israeli plane from using airspace"

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010, 10:36 am Amman Time
 
 

Turkey bars Israeli plane from using airspace
Palestinians wheel a stretcher carrying the body of Bassam Badwan at Al Awda Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday. An Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip yesterday killed at least one Palestinian fighter and wounded two other people, medical workers said (Reuters photo)

Agencies

Turkey barred an Israeli military plane from using its airspace after last month's raid on Gaza-bound aid ships killed nine activists, Agence France-Presse quoted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying Monday.

The new sign of heightened tensions between the former close allies was revealed as Israel started an official inquiry into the raid in which Israeli commandos shot dead eight Turks and a dual US-Turkish citizen.

"They [Israel] requested an overflight permission to Poland in the first days after the May 31 raid on the aid ships," Erdogan told reporters on his return from the G-20 summit in Canada. "They were denied permission."

Erdogan refused to elaborate how Turkey would respond to similar requests by Israel in the future.

The Anatolia news agency quoted the prime minister as telling reporters in Toronto after the summit that his country had closed its airspace to Israel.

A Turkish diplomat confirmed to AFP that one Israeli military flight had been banned and said that future requests would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

"Military planes are required to obtain overflight permission before each flight," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

"One military plane was denied permission immediately after the raid due to the conditions of the day," he added, stressing that civilian flights remained unaffected.

Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot said the military plane had been taking an army delegation of 100 officers to the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz in Poland, Turkish media reported.

The Boeing 707 had to take an alternative route, the report said.

Ankara recalled its ambassador to Israel immediately after the raid, scrapped plans for three joint military exercises and said economic and defence links would be reduced to a "minimum level".

Senior officials have said that Turkey expects Israel to apologise for the deaths and injuries, compensate the victims’ families, agree to an international inquiry and release three Turkish vessels seized in the operation.

Ankara also wants the crippling blockade of the Gaza Strip to be lifted.

Erdogan said ties with Israel would recover if Israel met the demands.

“We have been very patient... and have said that meeting our demands would be an important step to turn this process into a positive one. But if they are not met, then we should not forget that our friendship has already been weakened,” Anatolia quoted him as saying.

“We have done whatever is necessary within national and international law, and we will continue to do so,” he added.

If Israel fails to meet the demands, Turkey will downgrade its diplomatic representation to the level of a charge d’affaires, a senior diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity earlier this month.

Ankara would consider making no new cooperation agreements with Israel, the diplomat said, adding that existing deals were being reviewed.

Israel says its soldiers acted in self-defence after they came under attack from the activists during the raid and has set up its commission with two foreign observers to investigate the operation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be the first witness to testify before the committee set up by Israel which began deliberations on Monday, a spokesman said.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi would also appear before the commission, with all the major testimony likely some time after Netanyahu holds talks with US President Barack Obama in Washington on July 6.

Turkey and Israel built a strong alliance after a 1996 military cooperation deal, but the relationship has nosedived amid sharp criticism from Ankara over Israel’s devastating war on Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009.

Air strike

Also Monday, an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip killed at least one Palestinian fighter and wounded two other people, Reuters reported from Gaza citing medical workers.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said a military aircraft had “targeted a Palestinian who fired a rocket-propelled grenade at soldiers” that struck inside Israel. Israeli media said a mortar bomb was also fired from Gaza at Israel, causing no injuries.

“A direct hit was identified” in the Israeli attack, the army spokeswoman said. There were no reported casualties from the grenade attack that prompted the air raid.

Israel frequently carries out air raids over Hamas-ruled Gaza, targeting Palestinian fighters suspected of firing rockets into Israel.

Palestinian medics said the latest strike struck near Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, and that the man killed was active with the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

One of the two men wounded was in a serious condition, the medics said.

Two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on Friday in Gaza, when Israel attacked tunnels along the border with Egypt that it says are used by Islamist fighters to smuggle in weapons.

29 June 2010

 
 
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