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Report: Turkey, Israel reinstate air force coordination mechanism
The coordination mechanism is designed to prevent misunderstandings and potential clashes between Turkish and Israeli military planes over the Mediterranean Sea, but it was suspended following the UN panel's report on the May 31, 2010 raid on the aid ship Mavi Marmara in September, Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday.
Turkey ended its aerial cooperation with the Israeli military in 2009, in protest of an Israeli offensive in Gaza that killed some 1,400 Palestinians. Jerusalem Post said despite the breakdown in diplomatic and military ties, the Israeli Air Force continued to maintain an open line of communication with the Turkish Air Forces until September in order to prevent potential misunderstandings when pilots from both countries encounter one another flying over the Mediterranean.
The newspaper quoted an unnamed senior official of the Israeli Air Force as saying that this coordination mechanism was recently reactivated as part of the two countries' efforts to “stabilize and improve ties.” Two weeks ago, the Turkish military attache to Israel attended an Israeli Air Force briefing for foreign military officers at the Ovda Air Force Base on the sidelines of the Israeli joint maneuvers with the Italian Air Force.
The official also said that the Israeli Air Force would also likely invite Turkey to participate in a large-scale international aerial drill that it will be hosting in Israel in 2013. “There is nothing preventing them from participating,” the official said.
Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and other top diplomats and suspended all military agreements with Israel after the UN panel, led by former Prime Minister of Zealand Geoffrey Palmer, said Israeli forces used excessive force during the Mavi Marmara raid but concluded that Israeli blockade of Gaza was legal.
The Mavi Marmara, part of an international flotilla, was on a mission to deliver humanitarian aid to blockaded Gaza when it was raided by Israeli commandos in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea.
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