ISRAEL’S DEFENSE FORCES CHIEF VISITS ANKARA AS TIES WITH TURKEY WARM UP

Tert.am
17:52 ~U 16.03.10

Israel’s Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi visited Ankara
yesterday at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart, a development
defense officials here say signals Turkey’s desire to improve military
ties between the two countries, reports Jewish news source Haaretz.com.

Relations were damaged six months ago after Turkey’s decision to
cancel Israel’s participation in international exercises in which
Israeli planes were due to take part

The invitation to Ashkenazi, marking the first visit to Turkey by an
IDF chief of staff in nearly five years, was conveyed about three
months ago when Ashkenazi and his Turkish counterpart, Gen. Ilker
Basbug, attended a NATO conference in Brussels. The pretext for the
visit to Turkey is a conference sponsored by NATO’s international
counterterrorism center.

Ashkenazi was one of the guests of honor at the conference and was
received at the Ankara airport by an honor guard. His visit was also
widely covered by the Turkish media.

While in Ankara, Ashkenazi had a one-on-one meeting with Basbug for an
hour and a half, as well as a 45-minute meeting with Turkish Defense
Minister Vecdi Gonul. The discussions included relations between the
two armies, future joint exercises and strategic issues regarding
Syria, Iran and Iraq.