|
Turkey welcomes joint missile-defense offer
ANKARA (July 10) - Faced with a growing Iranian missile threat, Turkish defense officials have welcomed an Israeli offer to help set up a joint missile-defense umbrella employing the Arrow anti-ballistic system.
In a one-day visit to Turkey yesterday, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said it was agreed to seek US approval to sell the Arrow anti-ballistic rockets and the powerful Green Pine radar system to Turkey. The Turks said they were keen on the idea, Israeli defense sources said.
Israeli and Turkish officials have been discussing the matter for months, but it was only publicized yesterday.
The missile shield was just one of a number of breakthroughs for lucrative defense deals the visit managed to achieve.
The most promising of these is an offer to upgrade 170 Turkish M-60 tanks and co-production of the advanced Gil anti-tank rocket, defense officials said.
Israel also said that the offers to sell Turkey a spy satellite as well as attack helicopters were resurrected after France and the United States blocked the transfer of military knowhow due to Turkey's alleged human rights abuses.
"The purpose of this visit is mainly to strengthen the strategic ties between both countries and to encourage joint projects between the defense establishments," Ben-Eliezer said.
The defense minister added that land forces from both Israel and Turkey would soon hold joint maneuvers.
This follows three years of joint naval maneuvers and intensive joint exercises between the two air forces.
"The air forces train together, the navies train together, and I hope that soon the land forces will also train together. This strategic cooperation is coming to life," Ben-Eliezer said.
Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz is scheduled to pay a long overdue visit to Turkey on July 26. Defense ties have become so strong that the IDF recently raised the number of military attaches from one to three.
As Israel's second-most important strategic ally after the United States, Ben-Eliezer said he told his Turkish counterparts that Israel expects Iran to get hold of nuclear weapons in 2005, and Teheran has recently completed successful tests for the 1,300-km range Shihab 3 surface-to-surface missile.
"Just imagine that a nuclear weapon would be in the hands of what we call fundamentalist elements that will endanger not only Israel but in my opinion the whole of the Middle East and definitely the free world," Ben-Eliezer told reporters after his meeting with Turkey's powerful chief of staff, Gen. Huseyin Kivrikoglu.
Israel wants Turkey to purchase and deploy the Green Pine radar, the radar from the Arrow anti-ballistic missile defense system, against the Iranian threat.
But Turkey is undergoing a severe financial crisis and the lucrative multi-billion dollar defense deals that Israel had hoped to cash in on now appear frozen.
In fact, the purpose of former prime minister and defense minister Ehud Barak's trip here last August was to get negotiations back on track. But 11 months later, nothing has been decided and Israeli defense sources said that the Turkish military has not even earmarked funds for a theater missile defense system.
Still, Turkish Defense Ministry Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said the visit by Ben-Eliezer was a "stimulating point in our relations." The Turkish defense minister said the meeting yesterday "would bring a momentum to our bilateral and military relations."
Turkish officials also assured Israel that its firms had not been eliminated from at least four major tenders potentially worth over $4 billion.
The major deal is one by Israel to upgrade 170 Turkish M-60 tanks in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Israel is in competition with the US-based General Dynamics. Later this week, a delegation of Israeli experts on the tank upgrade will be coming to Turkey to talk price.
A second offer made by Israel was to jointly develop and produce the Gil anti-tank rocket. In a bid to sweeten its offers, Israel has proposed to Ankara that they then sell the Gil to a third country, senior Israeli defense officials said.
Another project resurrected during Ben-Eliezer's visit was the military intelligence satellite based on the Israeli Ofek 3.
France won the bidding on that deal last year, but Turkey canceled that agreement in retaliation for France's accusations that Turkey committed genocide against the Armenians. Israel Aircraft Industries is expected to resubmit its offer, worth some $270 million, when the tender is reopened.
The final deal involves a joint venture with Russia to sell Turkey 145 attack helicopters in a deal worth about $1.5 billion. Turkey had already announced it chose the US-based Bell firm, but has kept the Russian-Israeli consortium as the second option should Congress refuse the transfer of technology licenses to Turkey. There are indications that this may happen.
"I am not the man who came to sign deals now," Ben-Eliezer said.
But in closed-door meetings, the defense minister, accompanied by top defense officials, reviewed the $1 billion in defense deals already made with Turkey and went into details over the items on the agenda now.
"Having this giant country behind us not only as our friends, but as a
strategic supporter is a great asset," Ben-Eliezer said.
Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News Archives