Turkey blocks Israeli bid for opening NATO office

Turkish objections have thwarted Israel’s attempt to open a NATO office, says Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday, stressing determination to also keep Israel out of data-sharing after a high-powered US radar system is deployed in Turkey. Turkey has blocked an Israeli move to open a representation office at NATO headquarters, Davutoglu said, adding that data collected by a radar system in eastern Turkey would not be shared with Israel. “Israel recently made an attempt to open an office at NATO [headquarters] in Brussels. We said we would veto this attempt and the issue was not even put on the agenda,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview with the CNNTurk news channel. In his comments to CNNTurk, Davutoglu also said Turkey was seeking support from the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union for a planned application to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on whether Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip was lawful.