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Israeli aircraft denied Turkey overflight
JERUSALEM, (UPI) -- An Israeli aircraft carrying military personnel to Poland for a tour of Holocaust memorial sites was denied permission to use Turkish airspace, officials said.
The cargo plane was forced to use an alternate route, Ynetnews.com reported.
Tension between the two nations has been high since the interception of a Turkish-led aid convoy by Israeli military forces resulted in the death of nine Turkish civilians May 31.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during the weekend Group of 20 summit in Toronto that Israeli forces were banned from his airspace. A Turkish official said the ban did not apply to civilian aircraft.
The flight to Poland was part of the "Edim Bemadim" (witnesses in uniform) project, which the Israeli Army considers a key component in instilling the memory of the Holocaust and strengthening army officers' sense of mission and commitment to the IDF and State of Israel, Ynetnews reported.
The flights to Poland and Germany routinely cross Turkish airspace but Turkish authorities forced the aircraft to use a different route Sunday, the report said. The tour was also to include stops at Nazi-era concentration camps.
JERUSALEM, (UPI) -- An Israeli aircraft carrying military personnel to Poland for a tour of Holocaust memorial sites was denied permission to use Turkish airspace, officials said.
The cargo plane was forced to use an alternate route, Ynetnews.com reported.
Tension between the two nations has been high since the interception of a Turkish-led aid convoy by Israeli military forces resulted in the death of nine Turkish civilians May 31.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during the weekend Group of 20 summit in Toronto that Israeli forces were banned from his airspace. A Turkish official said the ban did not apply to civilian aircraft.
The flight to Poland was part of the "Edim Bemadim" (witnesses in uniform) project, which the Israeli Army considers a key component in instilling the memory of the Holocaust and strengthening army officers' sense of mission and commitment to the IDF and State of Israel, Ynetnews reported.
The flights to Poland and Germany routinely cross Turkish airspace but Turkish authorities forced the aircraft to use a different route Sunday, the report said. The tour was also to include stops at Nazi-era concentration camps.
