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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | |||
| Turkey PM: My people rejected Israeli participation in NATO drill | |||
| 2009-10-15 | |||
| Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said that "diplomatic sensitivities" led his government to ban Israel from a joint NATO air force drill, French news agency AFP reported. "There is military cooperation between Turkey and Israel...but currently there are diplomatic sensitivities that we have to take into consideration," AFP quoted Edrogan as telling the Dubai-based channel Al-Arabiya. "We have taken the conscience of our people into consideration when we decided.... I had to be the voice that expresses the existence of my people and my people were rejecting Israel's participation. "We discussed it with the responsible parties
Meanwhile, a Turkish newspaper reported Wednesday that the reason Turkey banned Israel from this week's NATO air force exercises was "yet another delay in the delivery of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs," and not Turkish opposition to Israel's Gaza offensive, the newspaper Today's Zaman quoted a senior Turkish air force official as saying.
The Turkish official told Today's Zaman that the deal struck between Israel and Turkey was supposed to involve a shipment of Israeli-made spy drones, known as Herons, to Turkey, but that the shipment did not arrive on time. "Turkey needs those vehicles in its fight against terror. What led to the recent crisis between Turkey and Israel was the delay in the delivery," the official said. Several years ago, Turkey signed a deal to purchase 10 Herons from Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit for a sum of $180 million. Israeli media reported that Turkey was considering scrapping the deal when Israel failed to meet production deadlines, but Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul said in May that Turkey would not break the contract. The Israeli company later announced that it would deliver four Herons in August, followed by another two and then the last four by the end of October. The Turkish army has yet to use two of the 10 drones, which arrived in Turkey last November after an almost two-year delay, due to persistent technical problems, the Turkish paper reported. The report went on to quote Turkish government spokesperson and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek as saying that a proposal for the cancellation of the drill came from the General Staff as a response to yet another delay in the delivery of the Israeli UAVs to Turkey. "The proposal for cancellation came from the General Staff, not the government. However, there was no disagreement between the two bodies on the decision," Cicek was quoted as saying. The report stressed that the Turkish government had no hand in the decision to cancel the exercise. "The Anatolian Eagle [exercise] is an organization of the Turkish Armed Forces. It is up to the air forces and the General Staff to decide on which countries will participate in the exercises. The government has not interfered in the decision," Cicek was quoted as saying. The Turkish-Israeli crisis reached a peak on Jan. 29 after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan walked out of a panel discussion in Davos in protest of Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also commented on the recent drill crisis and called on every country to refrain from any act that could harm the atmosphere of peace and stability in the region. | |||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #9 I've understood it for years - but I'm deaf for a very different reason. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2009-10-15 16:08 |
| #8 One thing I may be misreading about you is why you don't seem to have the same level of antipathy toward russia than toward Europe (that, I think we all get here) and, to a lesser degree, the USA? Shades of your own background? I'm beginning to understand how Rush Limbaugh feels right now. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-10-15 16:00 |
| #7 If you don't want Israelis to hate Europe, Europe should stop behaving toward Israel in a hateful manner I don't really care about Israel hating Europe, not more than french (mostly) hating or just dilsiking the USA, that the USA having some real f*cked up stereotypes about the french, or that any given african ethnic group being an ass about other african ethnic groups... it's all part of the game, in fact, I think ethno-differentialism is a pretty basic, healthy, even fact of the human psyche, it's just it should be kept in line and shouldn't be an excuse for or being harnessed into harming others - hating them is fine, who cares, as long as you don't mess with them? Life goes on. Sticks & stones. One thing I may be misreading about you is why you don't seem to have the same level of antipathy toward russia than toward Europe (that, I think we all get here) and, to a lesser degree, the USA? Shades of your own background? Why this blindspot (I might be misreading you, though)? It's not a trick question, I'm interested. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2009-10-15 15:18 |
| #6 Dude, I don't own it, I'm a mestizo (bit chinese, heck, even a bit polish jew, and all), I'm not a white power guy... I wrote that WE Own it. WE. Meaning, including the joooooooooos as well. Simple as that. And I don't rave, I rant. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2009-10-15 15:08 |
| #5 I'm pretty cool with being an european myself, just as are the israeli - sorry, G(r)om, but that's just true, either you like it or not, you are *WHITE*, IE european, unless you side with the far right and acknowledge the notion that joooooos are NOT white, are NOT european, have nothing to do with european History, european civilization, european spirit, in which case, I refer you and them to an amiable divorce and a swift repatriation of all those unhappy jews to Israel... IE, you basically acknowledge that ye olde RAUS was right, after all, to put it bluntly -, or white americans, northern or southern. What goes around comes around, anonymous5089. If you don't want Israelis to hate Europe, Europe should stop behaving toward Israel in a hateful manner. As to all your ravings about being "white" etc... and kultur---who told you that you own it? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-10-15 14:51 |
| #4 I'm pretty cool with being an european myself, just as are the israeli - sorry, G(r)om, but that's just true, either you like it or not, you are *WHITE*, IE european, unless you side with the far right and acknowledge the notion that joooooos are NOT white, are NOT european, have nothing to do with european History, european civilization, european spirit, in which case, I refer you and them to an amiable divorce and a swift repatriation of all those unhappy jews to Israel... IE, you basically acknowledge that ye olde RAUS was right, after all, to put it bluntly -, or white americans, northern or southern. Of course, given your own bent, YMMV... but, in any case, that's how our (and your) "ennemies" see us (and you), "westerners", "whites",... IE whitey, basically, and that's all that count, denial or not. And, no, AFAIK, turks DON'T self-identify with Europe, they DON'T self-identify with europeans, in fact, I guess they would take this as some kind of an insult to their preceived self-identity. Seems to be inline with the historical Euro enabling of the Paleoterrorists. The USA have a rather long history of enabling the paleos too, just see G(r)om's take on that, and the USa have a long history of institutional antisemitism as well, no different than that of most if not all other european countries. In fact, I even am led to think, given what I've read, than antisemitism actually was more internalized in anglo-saxon and or protestant countries than in some supposedly intrinsically antisemitical countries like Germany, Poland or France, whihc actually were some kind of "safe-havens" (as compared to say russia) for jews, hence the relativelly large, secure and long-standing jewish populations there. Might be wrong, of course, but I'm kinda tired of that old saw about how the europeans are "different" and "racist" and "antisemitica"... Hum, also am trying to kick off my addiction to antidepressant (after kicking off my long-standing risperdal habit), so this might expalin why this kind of comments really bugs me right now, whereas I just don't care usually. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2009-10-15 10:44 |
| #3 There's no need to be nasty---calling people Europeans, P2k |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-10-15 09:46 |
| #2 You sure they're not just trying to be more Euro? Seems to be inline with the historical Euro enabling of the Paleoterrorists. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-10-15 08:28 |
| #1 To summarize: Turks are Muslims. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-10-15 03:48 |