Israel Sells Spy Camera to Turkey Despite Risk

Honoring contract from friendlier days, Israel holds out hope for renewed warmth

In a carrot and stick move, Israel’s defense establishment has approved the sale of a sophisticated intelligence system to Turkey even the Knesset decided to debate a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide, an issue that will almost certainly anger Ankara.

“I can see a coincidence here. On the one hand, Israel approves a defense deal and, on the other, lets the Turks know that there is a limit to what Israel is expected to take,” Amikam Nahmani, head of the department for political studies at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, told The Media Line. “There’s room for both states to renovate and improve their ties.”

The once close Turkish-Israel alliance has greatly deteriorated, particularly since last May’s assault by Israeli commandos on a Turkish ship participating in a flotilla trying to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Eight Turks and one American of Turkish descent were killed in the raid.

Turkey has recently asked Israel to provide it with the identities of soldiers involved so it can prosecute them. Israel has warned that it will meet flotillas planned for next month with an iron fist.

On Wednesday, Israel’s Knesset decided 20-0 to openly discuss the Armenian genocide. Until now, the government has always acted to keep the issue under wrap inside the closed-door Defense And Foreign Relations Committee in order not to jeopardize ties with Turkey. This time, the government supported the proposal.

And yet, earlier in the week, Israel’s Ministry of Defense finally approved the sale of a sensitive spy camera to Turkey, despite fears that the technology could find its way to hostile, third party elements.

The deal had been signed at the tail end of the flowering of strategic ties between Israel and Turkey. Deliver of the system, an airborne camera capable of being mounted on fighter jets, had been delayed for development problems. By the time they were solved, bilateral relations had deteriorated and the government began foot-dragging on delivery.

The system is the LOROP or Long-Range Oblique Photography pod, built by Israel’s top defense companies. It is considered the pinnacle in Israeli technology, one of the reasons why the Israeli Ministry of Defense was hesitant to see it in foreign hands.

All Israeli weapons sales must be approved by the Defense Export Department, or Sibat, a branch within the Ministry Of Defense. According to Israeldefense, an Israeli website with close ties to the defense establishment, Sibat approved the transfer of the system in order improve the strained ties with Turkey.

It also estimated that should advanced components of the system fall into third party hands, despite Turkish commitments to the contrary, the damage would be “not very bad.” It also said that not honoring a signed agreement could be problematic for the future.

Defense Ministry spokesman Zeev Finer declined to confirm or deny the decision, saying only that his ministry “did not comment on defense exports.” Defense industry officials also were unusually mum on the report saying that they had been instructed to tie their tongues regarding any defense sales to Turkey.

The LOROP is produced jointly by El-Op, a subsidiary of Elbit, and Elta, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the two largest defense firms in the country. Its electro-optic camera is considered one of the most advanced in the world and capable of taking high-resolution images used to locate targets and assess attack damage, night or day.

One of the advantages of this system was its communication package, which reportedly allows real-time downloading to command centers and the ability to photograph at angles so that jets do not have to enter hostile airspace to get a picture of the battlefield.

The deal was reportedly worth $140 million. Turkey had filed a complaint over the delayed delivery. Now that it finally won government approval, the system is expected to be transferred to the Turks in the coming weeks, the daily Ma’ariv said.

While Israel hasn’t signed any new defense deals with Turkey since last summer, it has allowed contracts that had been signed previously to be completed, including the supply of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and upgrades of battle tanks.

Turkey remains a lucrative market to be tapped. Turkey expects to spend more than $4 billion for defense procurement in 2011, according to Defense News. Its domestic defense industry grew 19% last year. Israeli defense industries are expecting a defense export dip and still see this as fertile ground for their platform-enhancing systems.

“Turkey is invited to repent,” said Nahmani. “I don’t think they benefited from abandoning their alliance with Israel. I don’t see how the Arab world was returning to them any dividend for this and there was no reason for it. I think that both states have joint interests; they are both stable and pro Western.”

Even as diplomatic ties chilled during 2010, bilateral trade reached $3.5 billion, up from $1.3 billion just a decade ago. The uptrend has continued into this year. Israeli imported some $354 million of Turkish goods in January-February, up from $282 million a year earlier. Meanwhile, Israeli exports to Turkey reached $302 million in the first two months of the year, up from $170 million the same time in 2010.

Nahmani said the era of relations between Israel and other states being a function of government and defense interest is being overtaken by business interests.

“Businessmen and tour operators and traders and industrialists and exporters are interested in making a profit and as long as they are making money the relationship will remain. The longevity of the Turkish-Israeli relations is explained because they were built only because of the government/defense relations were a minor part.”

He said “hundreds of thousands” of people in Israel and Turkey have a vested interest that this commercial relationship continues.