Foreign Ministry: Israelis detained in Turkey in response to BGA incident

Authorities in Jerusalem estimate that the detention of 40 Israeli passengers in an Istanbul airport came in response to a recent incident during which Turkish citizens were detained for questioning by border police at Ben Gurion Airport.

Foreign Ministry officials said that no directive was issued regarding a change in the policy that concerns the reception of Israelis, and that there was no intention to single out Israelis that arrive in Turkey. "It was a mid-rank initiative that apparently came in response to the incident at Ben Gurion Airport," they said. (Ronen Medzini)