Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday that if the lack of trust between his country and Israel continues, it could influence agreements that were signed in the past between the two countries. Israel and its nearest Muslim ally have a history of military cooperation, but relations have been strained since Erdogan's outspoken opposition to Israel's Cast Lead counter-terror campaign in Gaza last winter.
Interviewed by the Euro News television station, Erdogan said, "Israel should give some thought to what it would be like to lose a friend like Turkey in the future." He cited the recent diplomatic row over an anti-Israeli series on Turkish television, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's remarks that he trusted French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and not Erdogan, to serve as an unbiased mediator between Israel and Syria.