(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Israel's foreign ministry said on Monday that 40 Israeli passengers on a Turkish flight to Istanbul were singled out for questioning and that they were held for an hour and a half upon arrival at the International Ataturk Airport.
"They were taken to separate rooms to be questioned. Their passports were taken. After about an hour and a half of waiting, they were questioned one by one and after that they got their passports back and then they were free to go," deputy foreign ministry spokesman Ilana Stein told AFP.
It is believed that the Turkish move, which came one day after Israeli security officers humiliated and insulted a group of Turkish tourists at Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv, was a direct response to repeated harassment of Turkish passengers at Israeli airports.
The Turkish passengers, who were heading back to Turkey on Sunday, said they were separated from travelers from other countries and were taken into rooms for searches.
"They immediately told the group from Bucharest to pass ... but they took us into changing rooms. (We) took off our clothes and shoes. (They) searched our bodies with their hands and then with a detector," Turkish passenger Arif Cinar said.
Israeli foreign ministry officials on Monday admitted that Turkish citizens were routinely humiliated at the Israel's Ben Gurion Airport and that, over the past year, dozens of Turks complained of humiliation by Israeli security personnel at the airport.
Ankara-Tel Aviv relations, once close, have soured following the Israeli attack on a Turkish-flagged Gaza-bound aid convoy in international waters last year which left nine Turkish activists dead and many others wounded.
Ties between the two sides frayed further last week after Tel Aviv refused to apologize for the deadly attack.
Ankara expelled the Israeli ambassador to Turkey and suspended all military agreements with Israel in response to Tel Aviv's refusal to apologize.
Turkey has repeatedly said that relations between the two sides can only be restored if Tel Aviv apologizes for the attack, compensates the families of those killed and the injured, and lifts its deadly years-long blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Israel has reportedly agreed to a payout but is resisting calls to apologize, proposing instead to express regret.
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