Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Israelis' share of Turkey's total tourism declined from 3% to 0.05%. The number of Arab tourists in Turkey, by contrast, increased to about 1.4 million visitors in the first part of 2011, a jump from about 912,000 in the whole of 2009. Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated in June 2012: "We do not need Israeli tourists. We have successfully filled their places". Still, tourism to Antalya rose by more than 20% from September 2010 to September 2011, and the number of Israeli visitors to Istanbul rose 13%, still well below previous peaks. Turkish Airlines dropped the number of weekly flights to Israel by about half in 2010. In 2011, Turkish charter airlines began to cut back weekly flights on routes to and from Israel against the backdrop of the crisis in relations between the two counties and the decline in Israelis' Turkey holidays. It also emerged that El Al Israel Airlines had contingency plans that would address the possibility that Turkey would bar the Israeli carrier from overflying Turkish territory. However, it was announced by the Israeli Airports Authority that in 2013 and 2014 Turkish Airlines flew more passengers to and from Israel than any other foreign airline. Disaster relief After the 1999 Izmit earthquake, Israel assisted in search and rescue efforts and set up makeshift hospitals. The Israeli team included hundreds of personnel from the IDF SAR team, paramedics, surgeons and administrative personnel. The team was one of the largest international teams to assist in the catastrophe (which claimed more than 17,000 lives) and remained active for weeks. One of the iconic images of the catastrophe was an "Israeli rescue dog with a red Star of David sniffing through debris in the devastated port city of Gölcük". During the Mount Carmel forest fire in 2010, Turkey was one of the first nations to send aid to Israel. Turkey sent two firefighting aircraft, which started to extinguish fire in the early hours of 3 December. Following the 2011 Van earthquake, Israel offered to provide prefabricated housing and tents in response to Turkish requests for foreign aid. Israel airlifted mobile homes to the devastated region. Cultural ties The Arkadaş Association was established in 2003 to preserve the heritage of Turkish Jews, promote the study of Ladino, and strengthen ties between Israel and Turkey. The organization has over 4,000 members since its inception, about