Israel fears Turkey could share its secrets with Iran

Occupied Jerusalem:  Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak has voiced concern that once-stalwart ally Turkey could share Israeli intelligence secrets with Iran, revealing a deep distrust as Ankara's regional interests shift.

The leaked private comments by Barak cast doubt on how much Israel is willing or able to reconcile with Turks outraged at its navy's killing of nine of their compatriots aboard an aid ship that tried to run the Gaza Strip blockade on May 31.

Until relations soured, Turkey had been the Muslim power closest to the Jewish state, a friendship largely based on military cooperation and intelligence sharing.

In a closed-door briefing to Israeli community leaders Barak called Hakan Fidan, the new head of its National Intelligence Organisation, a "friend of Iran".

Prime concern

"There are quite a few secrets of ours [entrusted to Turkey] and the thought that they could become open to the Iranians over the next several months, let's say, is quite disturbing," Israel's Army Radio quoted him as saying in the speech.

Appointed in May, Fidan was previously a foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose AK Party has roots in political Islam and has often censured Israel.

Turkish sources say Fidan has also helped to mediate between the West and Iran over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

Ali Nihat Ozcan of the Ankara-based TEPAV think tank saw in Barak's remarks an effort at "psychological pressure" on Turkey.

"It's understood that there is a paranoia that Turkey could share with Iran what it could have shared with Israel before, regarding Iran's nuclear programme," he said, noting that Fidan formerly represented Turkey on the board of governors of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog.

Israel has hinted at last-ditch military strikes to deny the Iranians the means to make a nuclear bomb —a threat boosted by its 2007 air raid on an alleged atomic reactor in Syria, during which Israeli warplanes briefly flew over Turkish territory.