Turkey denies it is building a base for Israel

[ozgurluk at xs4all.nl]

   ANKARA, July 13 (AFP) - Turkey and Israel denied reports Monday  
by a US newspaper that Turkey is building an air base in the east of 
the country for Isreali combat pilots to train in Turkish air 
space. 
   The report, published in the Christian Science Monitor, was  
reproduced in the Turkish daily Milliyet Monday. 
   "This story is totally unfounded and has nothing to do with  
reality," a Foreign Ministry communique stated. 
   "This type of report and those about Israeli planes using air  
bases in Anatolia to spy against their neighbours are deliberately 
pushed despite our repeated denials," the communique added. 
   Turkey sees the information about the construction of a base for  
the use of Israeli aircraft as a campaign against cooperation 
between itself and Israel. 
   In Jerusalem, an Israeli Foreign Minsitry spokesman also denied  
the report. 
   The spokesman also denied a report in the Turkish daily Hurriyet  
Monday that Turkish air force pilots received training in Israel in 
countering attacks by S-300 missiles, the type that Cyprus has just 
bought from Russia. 
   Cooperation between the countries' air forces is laid out in a  
Turkish-Israeli framework agreement, signed in February 1996, which 
authorises the exchange of personnel and information as well as 
permitting Turkish and Israeli pilots to train in each other's air 
space. 
   This agreement sparked off anger in several Arabic countries,  
especially Egypt and Syria. Iran saw it as a threat directed against 
itself, which Turkey and Israel deny. 
   "Turkish-Israeli relations are developing in the interest of the  
Turkish and Israeli peoples...and are not directed at any third 
country. The Turkish-Israel Agreement has no strategic character or 
secret missions and does not target any country," the communique 
states. 
  	   	

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