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Israel's Barak in bid to mend fences with Turkey
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Israel's Barak in bid to mend fences with Turkey
AFP - Monday, January 18
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Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak travelled to Turkey on Sunday in the wake of a diplomatic row between the two military allies sparked by a controversial Turkish TV series.
ANKARA (AFP) - – Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak began a one-day visit to Turkey Sunday in the wake of a severe diplomatic row between the two countries, eager to mend fences with a Muslim ally sliding away.
Barak's trip was the highest-level bilateral visit since Israel's war on the Gaza Strip last year prompted an unprecedented barrage of criticism from the Islamist-rooted government in Ankara.
He visited the tomb of Turkey's secularist founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk before scheduled meetings with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul.
The talks were to focus on arms deals, Israeli public radio reported.
Turkish officials are currently in Israel to test unmanned aircraft that Israeli companies have manufactured for Turkey's army under a joint 183-million-dollar project, long delayed amid technical snags and political tensions.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen by some as the man at the centre of bilateral tensions, and President Abdullah Gul, were not available to meet the Israeli minister, citing programmes outside Ankara.
Barak, whose Likud party is in favour of maintaining close ties with Turkey, insisted on making the visit despite a row that brought Ankara to the verge of recalling its ambassador from Tel Aviv.
The storm broke Monday when Danny Ayalon, the deputy of Israel's ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, gave Turkey's ambassador a public dressing down as he protested a Turkish television series for depicting "Israel and Jews as baby-snatchers and war criminals".
As the unexpecting ambassador smiled, Ayalon turned to reporters and told them in Hebrew to pay attention that the envoy was made to sit on a low couch and that the Turkish flag was removed from their table.
Bowing to pressure from a furious Ankara, Ayalon sent a letter of apology to Ambassador Oguz Celikkol on Wednesday, cooling a row that had threatened to plunge the two already estranged allies into a serious crisis.
Once-flourishing bilateral ties took a sharp downturn last year amid Israel's war on Gaza and its persisting blockade of the impoverished Palestinian enclave.
In a memorable outburst, Erdogan stormed out of a debate at the World Economic Forum, accusing the Jewish state of "barbarian" acts and telling Israeli President Shimon Peres, sitting next to him, that "you know well how to kill people".
Ankara has said relations will continue to suffer unless Israel ends "the humanitarian tragedy" in Gaza and revives peace talks with the Palestinians.
Turkey's booming ties with one-time foe Syria and close contacts with Iran have made its criticism even harder for Israel to swallow and raised questions on whether Erdogan's government is taking a key Muslim-majority NATO member away from the West.
Turkey has been Israel's main regional ally since 1996 when the two signed a military cooperation accord.
But in October, Ankara excluded Israel from joint air exercises in central Turkey that have been held for years, angering Tel Aviv and prompting a rebuke from Washington.
The following month, Israel's trade minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer visited Ankara in an effort to mend fences, and Gul and Peres met at the sidelines of a UN climate summit in Denmark last month.
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