Israel: Turkey calls off joint air force drill

JERUSALEM — Turkey has canceled an annual multinational air force drill including the U.S. and NATO because it opposed Israeli participation, the Israeli military said Sunday, in a sign of further deterioration in relations between the two countries.

Turkey, a secular country ruled by an Islamic-oriented party, had long been Israel’s closest ally in the Muslim world. But ties have suffered since Israel’s winter war against Islamic Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, which killed hundreds of civilians.

A brief statement posted on the Turkish military’s Web site said the annual Anatolia Eagle drill would take place Oct. 10-23, but that international participation had been canceled after “international negotiations conducted by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.” The statement did not elaborate.

Turkish military officials were not available for comment, and a government spokesman said he had nothing to add to the military’s statement.

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.”

The exercise was to have been the sixth annual maneuver of its kind. The military said it was also to have included U.S., Italian and NATO forces.

Israeli defense officials said Ankara canceled the drill after the U.S. pulled out over the Turkish decision to exclude Israel. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.

Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon appeared to be trying to keep the heat down, calling Turkey a “very important strategic anchor in the Mideast.”

“Certainly its ties with Israel serve the entire region,” Ayalon told Israel Radio, adding that “all of us want a tolerant Turkey that is part of Western civilization, and certainly an antithesis to the Iranian model.”

An Israeli political scientist, Amikam Nachmani, called the Turkish decision “a warning bell” and said it was notable because Turkey had never before disturbed its military ties with Israel, though it has criticized the country.

Israel and Turkey have wide-ranging military, economic and strategic ties, and last year Ankara hosted months of indirect talks between Israel and Syria after an eight-year breakdown.

But tensions soared after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a high-profile conference where he confronted Israel’s president over steep Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza.

Palestinian officials and human rights groups say more than 900 civilians died in the offensive, which was launched to halt years of rocket fire from Gaza on southern Israel.

Israel disputes that number but has provided no evidence to back up its claim.

A recent U.N. report accused Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers of war crimes — an allegation both sides deny.

Turkish-Israeli ties have been tested in the past by earlier attacks on Palestinians but strong security interests helped to mend fences.

Turkey and Israel grew close in the mid-1990s, their alliance based on mutual fears of Iran and Syria. Israel has supplied hundreds of millions of dollars of military hardware to Turkey over the years, the two countries conduct joint naval exercises and the Israeli air force trains over Turkish airspace.

But since Erdogan’s government came to power in 2003, Turkey’s ties with Israel have cooled. Turkey believes that the militant Hamas must play a key role in the Palestinian territories.

Associated Press Writer Suzan Fraser contributed to this report from Ankara, Turkey.