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.”
