Turkey Closes Airspace to Israeli Military

Monday June 28, 2010 21:43 by Brian Ennis - IMEMC & Agencies

Turkey's Prime Minister announces that Turkey's airspace was closed to Israeli military flights after the attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla this past May.

The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told the press in Canada that the ban came after the attack on the Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara. The attack left nine people dead; eight were Turkish citizens and the ninth was a Turkish-American citizen.

This comes to light as Israeli news outlets reported over the weekend that Turkish flight officials barred an Israeli flight carrying military officers from entering Turkish airspace. They were on their way to tour Auschwitz in Poland.

The diplomatic rift between Turkey and Israel continues to grow wider as Israel is being stubborn in its response to Turkey's requests following the loss of life on May 31.

Turkey has only asked that Israel apologize for its actions, return the seized ships, pay compensation to the families of the victims, and participate in a fair and international investigation of the events.

Turkey has also recalled its ambassador and ceased all military cooperation with Israel. Relations have been strained since the catastrophic loss of life Israel inflicted on Gaza in 2009 but recent events have left them in a particularly bad state.

international | gaza siege | news report ennis.brian.w at gmail dot com