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Report: Turkish Intelligence Severed Relations with Israel's Mossad
(Ha'aretz) Zvi Bar'el and Barak Ravid - Amid the strained relations between Ankara and Jerusalem, Turkish intelligence has severed its working relations with the Mossad following a Turkish government decision on the matter, the Turkish newspaper Sabah reported on Monday. In June, Ha'aretz reported that Israeli security officials were deeply concerned by the appointment of Hakan Fidan to lead Turkey's National Intelligence Organization. Fidan, a close associate of Prime Minister Erdogan, is viewed as a proponent of closer relations between Turkey and Iran. Meanwhile, Turkey has conditioned its consent to stationing a NATO missile-defense system on its territory on a guarantee that no information collected by the system be transferred to Israel. Since the American-sponsored plan's original purpose was to defend NATO countries against an Iranian attack, Turkey is essentially demanding that Israel not be given vital information about Iranian missiles. Turkish sources said Washington has agreed that no information from the system will be shared with Israel, since Israel has its own advanced missile-detection systems for tracking Iranian threats.