Prime Minister Ehud Olmert todayduring the weekly Cabinet meeting, briefed ministers on his recent meetings with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Regarding his meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, Prime Minister Olmert said: "In my conversation with the Turkish Prime Minister, I told him that if Israeli planes indeed penetrated Turkish airspace, then there was no intention thereby, either in advance or in any case, to – in any way – violate or undermine Turkish sovereignty, which we respect."

Prime Minister Olmert added that he had expressed Israel's apology to the Turkish government and to the Turkish people for any violation that may have occurred.