Turkish Air Defense System Deployed to "Defend Syria, Iran against
Israel Raids"

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13/05/2010

High-ranking sources in the Israeli Foreign Ministry expressed
displeasure with Turkey over deploying anti-aircraft batteries along
the Syrian border in the Iskenderun district.

The Turkish daily Hurriyet meanwhile, quoted a military source as
saying that `this move aims at repelling a US or Israeli attack
against Iran or Syria.’

The Israeli Foreign Ministry sources noted that if the news published
in the Turkish media were true, then Ankara would be taking a side
with Damascus and Tehran, instead of preventing the nuclearization of
Iran.

In a phone call with Al-Manar TV on Wednesday, Mustafa Ozcan, a
Turkish political analyst, said `The news in Hurriyet daily is true.
The air defense system was moved from Istanbul to Iskenderun to
counter any surprise Israeli air raid, because in 2007 Israeli
warplanes used the Turkish airspace to carry out air raids on Syrian
targets. Thus Turkey took this precautionary measure so that what
happened in 2007 would not happen again.’

Asked whether the cooperation between Israel and Turkey gives the
Zionist entity the freedom to use Turkey’s air space, Ozcan replied,
`Of course not. Israel cannot do this without prior notice to Ankara
because Syria is Turkey’s neighbor and ties between the two countries
are developing day after day.’