“US officials have not made any statements on this issue,” Davutoğlu told Today’s Zaman on Friday from a helicopter while en route from Erzurum to Diyarbakır, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was due to hold a referendum campaign rally. The foreign minister explicitly denied speculations that the US will not participate in the military war games because Israel was not invited.
Last year, the Turkish military cancelled an international segment of the Anatolian Eagle military training exercise in a move widely seen as a way to exclude Israel from the exercise.
The cancellation then increased tensions between Israel and Turkey which were reportedly caused by a delay in the delivery of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Turkey by Israel -- and not by Turkey’s disapproval of Israel’s devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip in the winter of 2008/2009, as many had speculated.
Israeli media reported this week that the US rejected the invitation to participate in the war games as Israel had not been invited to the military drill.
A US official earlier confided that the US Air Force will not participate in the military exercise planned for October as the US Army had participated in a June military drill.
Commenting on the visit of Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen to Ankara, Davutoğlu said communication between the US and Turkey continues at every level. Stressing that the two countries hold consultations in a variety of spheres, the foreign minister said Turkey and the US continue to work together as allies.
