'Terrorist state' or not, Israel to sell drones to Turkey
By Zvi Bar'el Haaretz 30 January 2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1060130.html

Turkey is expected to receive its first shipment of attack drones from
Israel next month, despite the comments by its prime minister during the
Gaza offensive that Israel was a terrorist state. Turkey is also expected to
receive another shipment of Heron drones from Israel.

According to Turkish sources and reports in the Turkish media, the
predominantly Muslim country under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is
expected to buy drones known as the Harpy. This armed UAV, developed by
Elbit and Israel Aerospace Industries, participated in the Gaza offensive
and killed Hamas militants.

Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul was reportedly impressed with the
Harpy's performance on his visit to Israel in October. Another factor in
Turkey's decision to buy from Israel may be the delay in a final decision by
the United States on whether to sell Turkey Predator drones.

Turkish sources say Turkey would rather buy the Predator because of its rich
combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. Turkey and Israel signed a deal
for the supply of Heron drones to the tune of $180 million in 2005, but
delays and malfunctions in the cameras mounted on the drones pushed back
delivery by more than one year.