Israel imposes partial arms embargo on Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net - Israel will temporarily freeze sales of advanced military platforms to Turkey over concerns about the perceived mounting anti-Israel rhetoric from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to UK-based Jane's Defense Weekly.

Israel's defense assistance and export organization, SIBAT, has decided to evaluate Turkish requests on a case-by-case basis; one case under review is a Turkish request for Israeli-made electronic warfare systems. Turkey has also expressed interest in Rafael's Spike non-line-of-sight (NLOS) anti-tank guided weapon as well as Israel Aerospace Industries' (IAI's) Barak 8 theatre-defense missile system for its navy and the Namer heavy infantry fighting vehicle, Today’s Zaman reported.

"Ties with Turkey will never be the way they once were," a defense source said. "We are being very careful which systems we sell them due to the growing Islamic trends in the country."