Turkey has offered the use of its military facilities to Egypt for air exercises similar to those held by Israel and the United States, according to a report by the Middle East Newsline (MENL).
The offer was made during the current visit to Cairo by Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, said the news service, quoting Cem as telling his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Maher, that Ankara would allow Egypt's air force to use Turkey's military facilities for training and refueling.
Cem reportedly acknowledged that Israeli air force fighter-jets were training in central Turkey. He said the Israeli pilots used Turkey's air force base in Konya, where the air forces from the Jewish state, Turkey and the United States held an exercise in June.
But the foreign minister said Israel did not have exclusive use of Konya, and offered the facility to Egypt and other Arab countries.
Turkey has extensive defense and military ties with Jordan, and the two countries have held joint exercises, said MENL.
Egypt and the Arab World, however, have been critical of Turkey's strategic relations with Israel. Turkey has been Israel's main regional ally since 1996, when the two signed a military cooperation accord, much to the anger of most of the Arab World and Iran.
Cem was quoted as saying in Cairo Monday that Turkey wanted to soothe Arab worries about its military ties with Israel, and could use its contacts with both sides to calm the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Meanwhile, the top Turkish diplomat accused “certain Israeli circles of trying to cause a rift between Turkey and the Arabs,” according to Al Messa newspaper.
Cem reiterated assurances he conveyed to the Arabs during a meeting with Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa.
The Arab League issued a statement quoting Cem as saying "Turkey is one of the few countries which has good relations with the Israelis and Palestinians and we are using these good relations to calm the situation," according to AFP.
According to the same statement, Moussa said after his meeting with Cem that the Arabs "do not get involved in Turkey's bilateral relations with other states, including Israel."
Moussa added that Cem assured him that "there exists no strategic cooperation between Turkey and Israel that could undermine relations with the Arabs or harm Arab interests." – Albawaba.com
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