Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Turkey, despite a U.S.-arranged reconciliation, continues
to prevent NATO from cooperating with Israel.

A leading Israeli strategic institute asserted that Turkey stopped NATO
participation at a conference scheduled for next month. The Begin-Sadat Center
for Strategic Studies said a member of the NATO Defense College in Rome was
ordered not to respond to an invitation by the Israeli center, which was
co-sponsoring the parley along with the Aspen Institute of Germany.

“It distresses me to bring to your attention the following incident,
which would seem to indicate a boycott of Israel by the NATO Defense College in Rome,” Besa Center director Efraim Inbar wrote to NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen. “I cannot stand by without protesting in the most vigorous manner, and asking for your intervention.”

Inbar, one of the pioneers of the Israeli-Turkish relationship in the
1990s, identified the NATO invitee as Karl-Heinz Kamp. In his April 12
letter, Inbar said Kamp was ordered by NATO to reject the invitation by the Israeli strategic institute.

“[He] was told that this stems from Turkish opposition to NATO
interactions with Israeli institutions,” the letter said.

This marked the first case of Turkey’s veto of NATO cooperation with
Israel in wake of the apology by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
on March 22. Israeli officials said the apology as well as the offer to
compensate the death of eight Turks would end Ankara’s opposition to NATO
cooperation with Israel.

“While I am well aware of the tensions in Israel-Turkey relations — as
well as the recent beginnings of a thaw in these relations — I cannot
believe that NATO would under any circumstances countenance a boycott of
academic exchanges with Israeli institutions,” Inbar, who opposed the
Israeli apology, said. “Not even Turkish academic institutions boycott their
Israeli counterparts!”

The Inbar letter was also sent to Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu,
whose government has not yet issued a response. In April, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Erdogan said Ankara would not change its policy toward Israel
until its commitments to Turkey were fully implemented.

Turkey was also reported to have vetoed a meeting of NATO’s
Mediterranean Dialogue that would have included Israel. This would have been
the first time that NATO convened the foreign ministers of
Mediterranean Dialogue countries since 2008.

“At this stage, such a meeting would not be useful,” a Turkish official
told the Hurriyet newspaper.

  Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Benjamin Netanyahu, Efraim Inbar, NATO Defense College, Recep Erdogan, Turkey vetoes Israeli participation at NATO conference