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Turkey bans Israel from air drill because of Gaza

October 12, 2009 10:19
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

ByJessica Elgot, Jessica Elgot

1 min read

Israel was deliberately excluded from a multinational air force exercise by Turkey because of concerns over Gaza, the Turkish Foreign Minister has confirmed.

The 11-day air force drill, which would have included Israel, the US, Italy, Holland and pilots from other NATO countries, was due to take place near Konya, in central Turkey.

But Turkey cancelled the exercise, which was due to start today, because it did not want Israel to participate.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the drill was delayed indefinitely "because of Turkey's decision to change the list of participating countries, thus excluding Israel”.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: “We hope that the situation in Gaza will be improved, that the situation will be back to the diplomatic track and that will create a new atmosphere in Turkish-Israeli relations as well.”