By Hurriyet | Tuesday, 09 November 2010
BEIJING (Hurriyet)-Rumors in the Israeli press that Turkey has classified Israel as a strategic threat are "baseless" and "ill-intentioned," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday.
"The allegations that appeared in the Israeli press have no grounds or equivalent. They are an example of speculative and provocative reports that we have seen very often in the Israeli press recently," Davutoglu told a group of journalists on the last day of his week-long trip to China.
The foreign minister declined, however, to reveal whether Turkey's National Security Document, also known as the Red Book, cited Israel as a threat and said its content was confidential.
"I won't say anything about the content [of the Red Book]. We cannot consider such reports good-intentioned if they have no source," he said.
Israel's tourism minister urged Israelis to boycott Turkey in response to the allegations that Turkey has classified Israel as a strategic threat, according to Israeli media reports.
Asked if the government would take action on an official level, Davutoglu said, "Ankara does not make any statement in response to a newspaper report."
He similarly declined to respond to the Israeli minister's calls for boycott, saying, "We don't consider it appropriate to be continuously bickering [with Israel]."
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