Barak and Gonul hailed their countries' military and strategic cooperation, which included in recent years a series of joint army and air force trainings, as well as an array of Israeli arms sales to its chief regional ally.

"I have come to promote cooperation of the defence establishments which are mutually beneficial for both sides. We have discussed joint issues that serve our joint interests," Barak told reporters after the meeting.

Gonul said that Turkey used Israeli-manufactured unmanned aircrafts during its cross-border strikes against the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in neighbouring northern Iraq that began on December 16.

He also said that Turkish and Israeli defence ministry officials have revived talks on purchasing spy satellites developed and constructed by Israel Aerospace Industries.

"This issue hasn't been raised in our meeting but has been discussed on the technical level. Since there have been so many projects between Turkey and Israel, we let them be discussed on the technical level," he said.

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