by Duygu Tamer, Wang Xiuqiong
ANKARA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak started his one-day visit to Turkey on Sunday, a move Ankara expects to help repair the rifts with its long-time ally after a diplomatic row further strained their relations.
Barak met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in the Turkish capital on Sunday morning and is scheduled to meet Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul later on the day.
He was the first Israeli official to visit Turkey after Ankara threatened to recall its ambassador in Tel Aviv who was treated in a humiliating way by an Israeli diplomat earlier this week. Israel eventually apologized for the incident and dissolved a crisis.
EXPECTED ROLES OF THE VISIT
Turkey expects Barak to ease recent tensions with Israel but it will be hard for the two countries to restore their relationship to the past level, Turkish officials and analysts said.
"Barak is an important figure in Israeli politics and both Davutoglu and Gonul will give the same message, 'such kind of events should not happen again,'" a senior Turkish diplomat told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
In the meantime, Turkey will continue to press for an end of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians during Barak's visit, said the official.
Barak is also expected to reassure Turkey that a long-delayed order for Israeli-made unmanned aircraft would be delivered by the end of year, according to the official.
Turkey reached a deal in 2005 to buy 10 Heron drones from Israel but the over 180 million-U.S. dollar purchase has been put off by technical problems.
The two countries have been close allies since signing an agreement on military and intelligence cooperation in 1996. Their trade and defense ties boomed before Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip in December 2008 drew ire from the largely Muslim country and cooled bilateral relationship.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly criticized Israeli President Shimon Peres over the Gaza conflicts and stormed out of a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2009.
Last year, Turkey banned Israel from participating in a NATO air force drill and later refused to censure a fictional television program that features Israelis killing Palestinian civilians.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has then questioned Ankara's impartiality in mediating Syrian-Israeli peace talks because of its "insults and tongue-lashing" against Israel.
Turkey brokered negotiations between Syria and Israel in 2008. It has improved ties with Syria, once its regional foe, and Iran as part of Erdogan's "zero-problem" policy with neighboring countries.
In the latest barb-trading, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon summoned Turkish ambassador in Tel Aviv Oguz Celikkol on Monday to express discontent over a recent Turkish TV drama which portrays Israeli intelligence agents as baby-kidnappers.
During the meeting, Ayalon was caught by camera to urge the photographers to pay attention that he and his assistants were sitting in higher chairs than Celikkol's seat and there was no Turkish flag on the table.
Israel sent an apology letter on Wednesday after Turkish President Abdullah Gul threatened to recall Celikkol if Israel did not make up to Ankara.
TIES HARD TO REVIVE
The fact that Barak's pre-scheduled visit was not held up by the recent diplomatic crisis would serve to mend fences between Turkey and Israel, but it seems difficult for their ties to return to the status of the 1990s, said Meliha Altunisik, head of the Department of International Relations of Middle East Technical University in Ankara.
"Barak's visit is important since he is coming despite the diplomatic crises. Luckily pragmatism worked out again between Israel and Turkey," Altunisik told Xinhua. "However, don't expect the close relations of the 1990s."
He said that change in relations is inevitable because Turkey is pursuing rapprochement with Syria and the Arab world and that the Turkish dependence for Israeli armed sector has decreased.
Israel's strategy in the Gaza Strip was a major stumbling block in Turkish-Israeli ties, while the divided attitudes among the Jewish lobby in the United States regarding supporting Turkish claims on the death of a large number of Armenians during the World War I, Altunisik said.
Armenia has said more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during World War I, but Turkey insists the Armenians were victims of widespread chaos and governmental breakdown as the 600-year-old empire collapsed before modern Turkey was born in 1923.
Turkey's former ambassador in Washington Faruk Logoglu said relations between Turkey and Israel will continue but it is almost impossible to have the close relations of the past.
"Barak will say some platitude words but the cooperation between two countries will continue to stay at the lowest level," he said.
