"We are ready to help you in any way as far as your injured are concerned," Erdogan told Netanyahu in a telephone conversation, his office said in a statement.

"In the face of this disaster it was our duty as men and as Muslims to assist," Erdogan added in the call made by Netanyahu to thank Ankara for aid already given, including the dispatch of two firefighting aircraft.

The Turkish statement quoted Netanyahu as saying, "I must stress that your help and that of the Turkish people is important and meaningful. At this very moment, I and everyone else can see the Turkish planes flying to put out the fire."

At least 41 people were killed when fire ripped through a forest near Israel's northern city of Haifa, prompting urgent calls for international help to put out the blaze, described as the worst in the country's 62-year history.

Turkey's ties with Israel, once its closest regional ally, plunged into crisis on May 31 when Israeli forces killed nine Turks on a Gaza-bound aid ship.

Relations had been already strained over Israel's devastating war on the Gaza Strip last year, during which Erdogan frequently denounced the Jewish state and defended radical Palestinian group Hamas.

Erdogan later rejected suggestions that the cooperation over the fire was a prelude to improved ties.

"It is clear that one should not mix subjects and our demands are known," he was quoted as saying by Anatolia news agency, referring to an apology and reparations for the Turkish flotilla deaths.

"We have already said that as long as these demands have not been met, our relations cannot be as they were before," he said.

A US diplomatic cable dated October 2009 and published this week by the WikiLeaks website reports the view of the Israeli ambassador to Turkey, Gabby Levy, that Erdogan "simply hates Israel" on religious grounds.

Other conversations backed up the view, it added.

Turkish relations with Israel were cemented in 1999 under an earlier government, when the Jewish state sent aid to the victims of two massive earthquakes in northwestern Turkey that killed some 20,000 people.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News