Turkey�s intel severs ties with Mossad

UPI (Link) (October 26, 2010)

Turkey�s intelligence establishment has severed working ties with Israel�s Mossad, further proof of strained relations between the countries, officials said.

A report in the Sabah newspaper quoted officials as saying the two agencies that once enjoyed close cooperation have stopped exchanging intelligence and conducting joint operations.

High-ranking Israeli officials privy to the matter neither confirmed nor denied the Turkish report and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu�s office refused to comment, Haaretz reported Tuesday.

In June, Israeli security officials expressed concern on the appointment of Hakan Fidan to lead Turkey�s National Intelligence Organization. Fidan, a close associate of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is viewed as a proponent of closer relations between Turkey and Iran, the Israeli daily said.

Turkey has also conditioned its consent to stationing a NATO missile-defense system in its territory on a guarantee no information collected by the system be transferred to Israel, the Israeli daily said.

Relations between Israel and Turkey began deteriorating last year following Israeli�s three week military offensive in the Gaza Strip. Ties worsened after Israel raided a Turkish boat carrying aid to Gaza in May, in which nine Turkish activists were killed. �