World Jewish News

Erdogan bans Israel from airspace

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday announced that Israel will no longer use Turkish airspace, according to an Anatolian state-run news agency report.
The report quoted Erdogan telling reporters in Canada that Turkey imposed a ban on flights after the May 31 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. He did not elaborate on whether the ban includes civilian flights.In response to the raid, Turkey has withdrawn its ambassador and canceled joint military drills. It has said it will reduce military and trade ties and will not return its ambassador unless Israel apologizes for the raid. Turkey also wants Israel to return the seized aid ships, agree to an international investigation and offer compensation for the victims.
On June 24, The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli defense officials explaining that Israel had not instituted a ban on military sales to Turkey, but would carefully evaluate the participation of Israeli defense industries in tenders there due to the growing rift between the countries.
The officials said that while Israel was not currently vying for a specific tender in Turkey, defense industries were welcome to participate after receiving approval from the Defense Ministry.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS. Yaakov Katz contributed to this report.

Haaetz.com