Israel's defence minister has gone to Turkey for talks, in the wake of a diplomatic row which has further soured relations between the two countries.

以色列国防部长访问土耳其，意图解决导致两国关系恶化的外交纠纷。

The row had threatened to break relations between Turkey and Israel

Ehud Barak met Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and will also hold discussions with his counterpart.

It comes days after Israel apologised to Turkey after a minister publicly humiliated蒙羞，屈辱 Turkey's ambassador.

Israeli-Turkish relations have deteriorated²恶化 since Turkey condemned³ Israel's Gaza offensive in 2008-09.

Despite the spat争吵, Mr Barak was warmly greeted by Turkish military officials on his arrival in the capital, Ankara.

Among those welcoming the defence minister was the Turkish ambassador to Israel, Oguz Celikkol, whose dressing⁵ down by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon came close to breaking relations between the two countries.

Mr Celikkol was pictured in the foreign ministry⁶ seated on a lower chair, the Turkish flag removed from the table.

He was rebuked指责，非难 over a Turkish television drama, which depicted描写，描述 Israeli intelligence agents kidnapping Turkish children.

Mr Ayalon apologised after Turkey's president threatened to recall the ambassador.

Frayed⁹ ties

Mr Barak's visit was scheduled before the latest diplomatic row but has taken on a heightened importance.

His first stop was to pay respects at the mausoleum陵墓 of Kemal Ataturk, modern Turkey's founding father, who is especially revered¹⁰尊敬，崇敬 by the Turkish armed forces.

Relations between Israel and secular世俗的，长期的 Muslim Turkey, already frayed, sharply deteriorated after Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan repeatedly condemned Israel's Gaza offensive.

The action, which followed years of rocket-fire from Gaza, resulted in the deaths of some 1,400 Palestinians, the UN says, and 13 Israelis.

Mr Barak will not meet Mr Erdogan during the visit.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Istanbul says political relations are still very strained紧张的, but there are surprisingly strong links between the two countries' military establishments, dating back to a co-operation agreement in 1996, and Mr Barak is expected to finalise details of a long-planned sale of Israeli-made unmanned aircraft to Turkey during this visit.

But, he says, the governing party in Turkey, with its staunchly坚定地，忠实地 Muslim power-base, has made it clear that the close ties the two countries once had are no longer a priority.