For almost half a century, Turkey has been a loyal ally of the United States. It stood with us in every conflict from Korea to the Gulf War. In the United Nations, Turkey votes with America more consistently than either France or Italy. And Turkey has friendly relations with a country desperately in need of friends. It's Israel's major regional trading partner.
Israeli pilots train over Turkish airspace.
The Turks are a proud people and understandably indignant when their nation is compared to Nazi Germany. The matter is more than academic. The tragedy of 1915 was the excuse for these atrocities. The PKK murdered approximately 30,000 Turks, most of them civilians. The foregoing does not put Ankara in an apologizing mood.