Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 16, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - An Israeli daily wrote on Saturday that making a major diplomatic issue over an Israeli general’s quotes from a newspaper was an attempt to create friction between the two countries’ military establishments, which have very close ties.
The fact that the Turkish military sent a diplomatic note to Israel about Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi’s criticism of Turkey was perceived by some in Jerusalem as a move to cause friction between the two military establishments, the Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday.
The incident, however, was not covered in Israeli media as widely as in Turkey.
Military ties between the two countries are important to both, said the Post, adding that "while (Prime Minister) Erdoğan has gravely taken Israel to task, the Turkish military has stayed above the fray."
The report said Turks differentiated between what politicians like Erdoğan say and what military men like Mizrahi say.
"The feeling in Ankara is that were the same comments to be made by Olmert or any other politician, they would not have elicited as strong a reaction as when they were uttered by a general,"said the Jerusalem Post.