"Anatolian Eagle," the joint aerial exercise in Turkey which was called off last week has only been postponed, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday. “Turkey is an important and central state in our region,” Barak said. “Israel has had strategic relations with it for decades. Despite the ups and downs in the relations between us, the relationship between the two countries are important to us and to the Turks, and so the ties between the states will not be damaged.”
"The exercise, which was supposed to take place with the participation of the Israel Air Force, has not been canceled but postponed,” he stated.
Turkey was forced to postpone the exercise indefinitely after the U.S. and Italy refused to take part without the IAF.
Barak spoke to reporters during a visit to the Czech Republic, where he met Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer and Defense Minister Bogdan Klich. The men discussed tightening the relations between Israel and the EU.
Barak stressed the need for severe sanctions against Iran. These, he said, would be limited in time. He added that “all options are on the table” as far as Israel is concerned. He also emphasized that the Goldstone Report against the IDF's counter-terror war in Gaza was “a tendentious and skewed report which lends encouragement to the terror organizations.”