Turkish TV series angers Israel

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, broadcast on Turkey's state television, incited hatred against the country.

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 traveling in slow motion towards a Palestinian child.

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

Turkey is one of the few Muslim countries to have relations with Israel, but these have suffered since the Islamist-rooted AK Party was elected to power in 2002, deteriorating further after Israel's offensive in Gaza in January.

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

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