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"Rift" Between Turkey and Israel Concerning Palestinian Crisis
ANKARA, Aug 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit urged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to seek peace talks with the Palestinians rapidly, news agencies reported Thursday.
Ecevit reportedly said that if hopes for peace vanish in the Middle East, that could put Turkish-Israeli relations into difficulty and warned that it may increase negative reactions of moderate Arabs, the Turkish Daily News reported.
Diplomatic sources told the Turkish Daily News that the meetings had a somewhat strained atmosphere at times due to the rift between the two countries.
Ecevit had said Wednesday that Sharon's policy of insisting on a total cessation of hostilities before talks with Palestinians could resume was "unreasonable", the French news agency AFP reported.
But Sharon stood by his refusal to negotiate under fire and took the opportunity to reiterate his total opposition to the deployment of international observers - recommended by the international community and demanded with increasing urgency by the Palestinians.
During his one-day visit Wednesday, Sharon met with Ecevit and State Minister Kemal Dervis, and was also received by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
At a joint press conference, Ecevit said that Turkey understood Israel's security concerns but added that the country should take steps to resume a peace dialogue with the Palestinians.
Ecevit also asked Sharon to lift the economic embargo posed against the Palestinians by Israel, and said that the continuation of the sanctions was reinforcing "radical" movements on the Palestinian side, reported the Turkish Daily News.
Sharon reportedly asked his Turkish counterpart to press Arafat to end the 10-month-old uprising.
Sharon's spokesman, Raanan Gissin, said Wednesday that Israel hoped Turkey would put pressure on Arafat to comply with a ceasefire plan drawn up by U.S. CIA chief George Tenet in mid-June.
"Arafat has to be under constant pressure to comply ... and since the Turkish government and Turkey in general have very good relations with the Palestinian Authority, and with Arafat, we expect and hope they could use their good offices for that purpose," he said.
But Palestinian Minister of Information Yasser Abed Rabbo said Tuesday that Israel was the aggressor and Turkey should curb its relations with the Jewish state.
Meanwhile, a series of new defense projects, including the sale of Popeye air-to-ground missiles and Arrow anti-ballistic-missile missiles, and the refurbishing of Turkey's U.S.-made M-60 tanks, were discussed during Sharon's visit, in addition to dealing with the possible sale of Turkish water to Israel.
High-level security measures were taken for Sharon's visit in Ankara. Crowds of police surrounded the government office where the two prime ministers met, while hundreds of other officers were deployed in the streets.
Israel and Turkey were drawn towards each other because of shared security concerns - both countries worry about potential developments in Syria, Iraq and Iran, and both are aware of the potential threat from ballistic missiles from these states, said BBC's Online News Service.
Israeli arms and military know-how are an important element in Turkey's modernization plans, said the BBC.
Israel has upgraded Turkish warplanes and is negotiating to upgrade Turkey's older U.S.-supplied tanks. Israel's arms industry, which is seen as essential in maintaining the country's qualitative military edge, has eagerly seized upon the Turkish contracts, the BBC reported.
Meanwhile, some leftist and Islamic groups organized protests against Sharon's visit, both in Ankara and Istanbul, but they will have little impact in a country that is planning to bolster its political, economic and military ties with Israel, said the Turkish Daily News.
On Wednesday, 100 members of a leftist party held a demonstration some 500 meters away from the prime minister's office chanting: "The Butcher of Palestine go home!" They later dispersed peacefully and no arrests were made.
Islamic papers blasted Sharon as a "murderer" and "butcher", referring to when Sharon was defense minister when hundreds of Palestinians were massacred by an Israeli-allied Lebanese militia in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in 1982.
Meanwhile, an official Syrian newspaper said Wednesday that Sharon's visit to Ankara should not harm Turkey's relations with Arab and Islamic countries.
"Sharon is a war criminal... his visit to Ankara, rejected by the Turkish people, should not yield results which might harm Ankara's relations with Arab and Islamic countries," said al-Baath, the mouthpiece of the ruling Baath party.
"The Turkish government should be keen to preserve its interests in these countries," the daily said.
Turkey is 99.8% Muslim, yet the government is strictly secular and has actively shut down several Islamic parties, and has been Israel's main regional ally since 1996, when the two signed a military cooperation accord angering most Arab countries and Iran.
Trade between the two countries has risen steadily from $100 million a year in the early 1980s, to $800 million in 1998, and hit two billion dollars last year.
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