(NSI News Source Info) ANKARA - April 29, 2009: Turkey's army chief brushed aside Israel's criticism of his country's first joint military exercises with neighboring Syria.
"Israel's reaction does not interest us. We do not have to explain to a third country any military exercise that we undertake with another country," Gen. Ilker Basbug told a news conference April 29.
"The exercises only concern Turkey and Syria," he added, describing the three-day maneuvers as a "small-scale" affair between teams of border troops. 
In this photo released by the Turkish General Staff headquarters, a Turkish soldier uses binoculars to search the area during an operation against Kurdish rebels at an undisclosed location. Turkey declined to set a timetable for the withdrawal of Turkish troops fighting Kurdish rebels in Iraq, despite calls from the United States to quickly wrap up the operation. Also, Turkey's military said its troops killed seven more rebels in the fighting in Iraq, bringing the total claimed death toll to 237 rebels since Turkey's ground incursion began a week ago.
On April 27, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the exercises as a "worrying" development.
"The military maneuvers are a worrying development, but the strategic ties uniting Israel and Turkey will prevail," Barak said.
Non-Arab, secular Turkey is one of Israel's rare allies in the Muslim world, with the countries signing a military cooperation accord in 1996, much to the anger of Arab countries and Iran.
Syria is one of the Jewish state's top foes, and the countries remain in a technical state of war since 1948.
But Turkey has significantly improved ties with Syria after a long period of animosity during which Ankara threatened war over what it saw as Damascus's support for separatist Kurdish rebels fighting Turkey.
Turkey hosted indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria last year, but the efforts were suspended following Israel's deadly offensive on Gaza. 
An undated picture released in Brussels by the pro-Kurds Firat news agency shows Turkish soldiers kept hostage by Kurdish rebels near the Iraq-Turkey border. A news agency which has close links to Kurdish rebels fighting Turkish troops published what it said were pictures of eight Turkish soldiers taken hostage by the guerrillas.
The Gaza offensive also hit Israel's ties with Turkey, when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos with Israeli President Shimon Peres, accusing the Jewish state of "barbarian" acts against the Palestinians.
In this photo released by the Turkish General Staff headquarters, a Turkish soldier uses binoculars to search the area during an operation against Kurdish rebels at an undisclosed location. Turkey declined to set a timetable for the withdrawal of Turkish troops fighting Kurdish rebels in Iraq, despite calls from the United States to quickly wrap up the operation. Also, Turkey's military said its troops killed seven more rebels in the fighting in Iraq, bringing the total claimed death toll to 237 rebels since Turkey's ground incursion began a week ago.
On April 27, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the exercises as a "worrying" development.
"The military maneuvers are a worrying development, but the strategic ties uniting Israel and Turkey will prevail," Barak said.
Non-Arab, secular Turkey is one of Israel's rare allies in the Muslim world, with the countries signing a military cooperation accord in 1996, much to the anger of Arab countries and Iran.
Syria is one of the Jewish state's top foes, and the countries remain in a technical state of war since 1948.
But Turkey has significantly improved ties with Syria after a long period of animosity during which Ankara threatened war over what it saw as Damascus's support for separatist Kurdish rebels fighting Turkey.
Turkey hosted indirect peace talks between Israel and Syria last year, but the efforts were suspended following Israel's deadly offensive on Gaza. An undated picture released in Brussels by the pro-Kurds Firat news agency shows Turkish soldiers kept hostage by Kurdish rebels near the Iraq-Turkey border. A news agency which has close links to Kurdish rebels fighting Turkish troops published what it said were pictures of eight Turkish soldiers taken hostage by the guerrillas.
The Gaza offensive also hit Israel's ties with Turkey, when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed out of a debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos with Israeli President Shimon Peres, accusing the Jewish state of "barbarian" acts against the Palestinians.
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