Turkish TV series angers Israel

Israeli soldiers were portrayed as murderers, Israel says

Israel's foreign minister has ordered Turkey's ambassador to be summoned over a Turkish TV series that portrays Israeli soldiers killing children.

Avigdor Lieberman said the programme, whose first episode was broadcast on Tuesday, incited hatred against Israel.

In one clip screened on Israeli news channels, an Israeli soldier takes aim at a smiling young girl and kills her.

The complaint is the latest to strain the relationship between Turkey and Israel.

Strategic ties

In a statement, Mr Lieberman said the series, which "presents Israeli soldiers as the murderers of innocent children, would not be appropriate for broadcast even in an enemy country and certainly not in a state which maintains diplomatic relations with Israel".

Another clip from the series - which tells the story of a Palestinian family - reportedly shows a bullet fired by an Israeli soldier travelling in slow motion towards a Palestinian child.

The programme was broadcast on Turkey's TRT One Channel.

Turkey is one of the few Muslim countries to have relations with Israel, but these have suffered since Israel's offensive in Gaza in January.

Last week, Ankara cancelled an international military exercise in which Israeli pilots were due to participate.

Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak sought to play down the rift, stressing that the two states shared "longstanding, important and strategic" ties.