U.S. seeks to boost Turkish-Israeli ties

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States is exploring ways to increase Turkish-Israeli relations as well as including Ankara in the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement.

Officials said Turkey has demonstrated a high degree of commitment during the current NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia. They said Ankara is proving to be the leading U.S. ally in Middle East and Central Asia issues.

At a speech on May 6 to the American Turkish Council in Washington, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Mark Parris said the United States and Turkey consult and cooperate frequently on developments in Iraq, the Balkans, Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Middle East.

Parris said Washington continues to encourage the growing economic and military ties between Turkey and Israel. "The United States has in particular welcomed and supported the rapid growth of ties between Turkey and Israel," the ambassador said. "While the initial focus of this rapprochement between two close friends was military, economic and other connections have become increasingly important, with bilateral trade expected to exceed $1 billion this year. The United States is exploring with Israel and Turkey ways to encourage this trend through creative use of the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement."

The agreement allows Israel and the United States to export without duties. Jordan has benefited from the Free Trade Agreement, with products from joint Israeli-Jordanian factories in the Hashemite kingdom being exported to the United States without customs duties.

Parris said U.S.-Turkish military ties have been strengthened by a stream of high-level meetings. At one point, he said, five U.S. four-star generals visiting Ankara within a month.

The ambassador said both countries would expand military cooperation into such areas as ballistic missile defense. Turkey has expressed interest in developing a national missile defense system and officials have spoken to Israel of the prospects of cooperation.

Parris praised the Turkish acquisition and use of U.S. defense systems. In February, Turkey signed a $517 million agreement to purchase and during the NATO campaign Turkey has used the U.S. F-16.

"And Turkey's deployment of F-16's for the Kosovo crisis underscored the U.S. interest in finding ways to ensure that, when the Turkish armed forces go with us in harm's way, as they have so often in the past, they do so using the same equipment we do," Parris said.

Israeli defense sources the United States has asked Israel to suspend efforts to obtain a tank upgrade project in Turkey to allow U.S. companies to win a much larger defense contract in that country.

The sources said the efforts are the first by the Clinton administration to seek coordination between U.S. and Israeli defense contractors in the lucrative Turkish market.

A request by the administration was relayed to Israel's Defense Ministry to suspend efforts to obtain an estimated $300 million contract to upgrade the M-60 tank in the Turkish armed forces, the sources said. The competition pits the government-owned Israel Military Industries Ltd., Ramat Hasharon, against U.S. and European contractors.

U.S. seeks to boost Turkish-Israeli ties The administration's request is for Israel to wait until a winner is decided on the estimated $5 billion contract to construct 1,000 new main battle tanks, the sources said. General Dynamics is the favorite in the bid.