![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/isr.jpeg\" "\\"Chairman")
Gov’t officials deny Ankara’s assertion that Turkey had blocked Israeli attempt to open office in western military alliance\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\nBy YAAKOV KATZ<\/p>\n
09\/19\/2011 12:36<\/p>\n
Gov’t officials deny Ankara’s assertion that Turkey had blocked Israeli attempt to open office in western military alliance\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n
The possibility of opening an Israeli mission at NATO headquarters in Brussels is still \u201con the table\u201d government officials said on Monday, in response to Turkish claims that Ankara had succeeded in vetoing the initiative.<\/p>\n
On Sunday night, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the CNNT\u00fcrk news channel that Turkey had succeeded in blocking an Israeli attempt to open an office in the Western military alliance\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n
RELATED:<\/p>\n
Analysis: NATO membership a restraint for Turkey<\/p>\n
Jerusalem brushes off Ankara threat to go to The Hague<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael recently made an attempt to open an office at NATO [headquarters] in Brussels.<\/p>\n
We said we would veto this attempt and the issue was not even put on the agenda,\u201d Davutoglu said.<\/p>\n
But Israeli officials involved in relations with NATO said that the option of opening an office at NATO headquarters in Brussels was \u201crealistic\u201d and was currently under consideration within the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not know of any veto or of the possibility that one country can veto an offer that was made by NATO,\u201d one government official said.<\/p>\n
In recent years, Israel has significantly boosted its cooperation with NATO and regularly participates in workshops and seminars organized by the Western military alliance and member countries. In 2010, the Israel Navy and NATO signed an agreement to deploy a missile ship with Active Endeavour, a NATO mission to patrol the Mediterranean Sea and prevent terror and weapons smuggling.<\/p>\n
Israel is also seeking to receive an upgraded status following the conclusion of a Strategic Concept review the military alliance is currently conducting that will enable Israeli officials to participate in top NATO forums \u2013 even though Israel is not a member of the alliance but a member of the Mediterranean Dialogue, which was created in 1994 to foster ties with Middle Eastern countries like Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year NATO extended invitations to all of the countries involved in the Mediterranean Dialogue and other non-membership forums to open offices at NATO headquarters in Brussels.<\/p>\n
Defense officials said that the offer was still relevant and that it was being \u201cpositively considered\u201d by the government. It is still unclear what the rank of the Foreign Ministry or Defense Ministry official will be who would man the mission if established.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could gain from having an office in NATO headquarters which could eventually lead to a more significant increase in cooperation,\u201d one defense official said.<\/p>\n
via Opening NATO office still on tabl… JPost – Diplomacy & Politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By YAAKOV KATZ 09\/19\/2011 12:36 Gov’t officials deny Ankara’s assertion that Turkey had blocked Israeli attempt to open office in western military alliance\u2019s headquarters. The possibility of opening an Israeli mission at NATO headquarters in Brussels is still \u201con the table\u201d government officials said on Monday, in response to Turkish claims that Ankara had succeeded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":44247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148],"tags":[1571,3096],"class_list":["post-44245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","tag-ahmet-davutoglu","tag-us-nato-israel-military-alliance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}