The head of the diplomatic-security bureau at the Defense Ministry, Amos Gilad said Tuesday that the reconciliation agreement with Turkey was important for Israel due to the Iran nuclear situation. “Turkey has been enemies with Iran or Persia for 1,000 years; it (Turkey) cannot allow them to arm themselves with nuclear weapons. Turkey is not ready for Iran to go nuclear,” he said in an interview with Ynet.
Gilad also emphasized that even if Israel’s relations with Turkey did not return to their previous level, the importance of the reconciliation agreement was in that it stopped the deterioration of relations between the two countries.

He added that in addition to published reports, further crises unknown to the public, had been averted, “on the level of the air force and navy.” Regarding the decision to postpone the meeting between Turkish and Israeli representatives he called it a “technical issue,” devoid of strategic meaning.

During the interview, Gilad talked about the visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry to the region in an attempt to lay the groundwork for a return to negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. He emphasized that the difficulty in reaching an agreement with the Palestinians lay in the gap between the two sides view of the West Bank, and in whether Abbas would be in control of Gaza.

Regarding Syria, Gilad said the regime’s chemical weapons were still under Assad's control and that “accurate intelligence tracking” needed to be done following their situation. He added that the deterioration of Syria has allowed groups such as Al-Qaeda to establish itself in the country.

Finally, Gilad said, Israel should not favor Assad, remembering that he is an “axis of extreme evil.”

When asked about Assad’s eventual fall, Gilad replied, “We must not say that it will happen in the next week or next two weeks. There is no reason to make such estimations.”

By Ynet News

 

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