Concerns about Israeli-Turkish relations were raised this week by reports that Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz has called for a re-evaluation of the military pact the two countries signed in February.
Yilmaz was quoted Wednesday in the Turkish press as telling a closed meeting of his Motherland Party, “The harm of this accord has outweighed its advantages. We are working on it. this has to be corrected.”
Anger over the accord prompted an Islamic militant to make an assassination attempt Saturday on Turkish President Suleyman Demirel.
Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres told reporters Wednesday that he was willing to examine any Turkish proposals for amending the pact.
Yilmaz made the reported statement a day after the leader of the pro-Islamic Welfare Movement, the party with the most seats in the Turkish Parliament, attacked the governing coalition for signing a pact with “Jews who bomb our Muslim brothers” in Lebanon.
The government leaders “go and form alliance with the Jews. They open Turkey to their planes,” Welfare leader Necmettin Erbakan said at a rally Tuesday, referring to a portion of the accord granting Israeli pilots the right to train in Turkish airspace.
“Given these truths, if you give a vote to anyone outside [the Welfare Movement], you will give a vote to the Jews. Martyrs and saints will strike down such people,” Erbakan said.
Word of the accord leaked out in April.
Details of the pact remain officially secret, but according to a copy of the agreement leaked this week, the pact calls for the two countries to expand military cooperation by land and sea for a five-year period.
The accord prompted a one-day visit to Israel this week by Turkey’s naval chief, a move that was expected to draw renewed protests from Islamic militants.
As part of his visit Monday to Israel, Adm. Guven Erkaya toured the Israeli naval base at Haifa as a guest of his Israeli counterpart, Maj. Gen. Alex Tal.
He Turkish media reportedly said the two countries were planning joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean next month.
Egypt, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, has been among the most vocal opponents of the accord in the Arab world, expressing reservations over whether it would disturb the regional balance of power. Syria and Iran have also denounced the accord.
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