Onur Gökçe, "The Dynamics of Turkish-Israeli Relations," All Azimuth 1, No.2 (2012): 55-68. (original) (raw)

Changes in Turkish-Israeli Relations and Implications for Regional Security Environment

Central European Journal of International and Security Studies, 2014

This work looks at how changes to global, regional and national political landscapes played a role in shaping Turkish-Israeli relations and how this, in turn, affected regional security and development in the Middle East. Specifically, I illustrate how Turkish political actors from the Islamic Justice and Development Party (AKP) have responded to structural changes taking place in the Middle East, a region that has witnessed a decrease in US hegemony and a major political reshuffle caused by the Arab revolutions. While Turkey safeguarded Western and NATO interests in the Middle East until recently and maintained a close alliance with Israel, it changed its attitude towards the latter after a series of ill-fated events such as the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara flotilla carrying humanitarian assistance to Gaza which resulted in the loss of life. Recent rapprochement between Turkey and Israel is explained by both actors’ re-discovering common security interests in their neighborhood, namely peace in Syria and energy interdependence.

Israeli-Turkish Tensions and their International Ramifications

Orbis, 2011

The deterioration of relations between Israel and Turkey, culminating in the ''Gaza flotilla'' affair of June 2010, are part of a reorientation in the Turkish foreign policy over the past several years: a move away from the West and toward Muslim states and non-state groups, including such radical actors as Iran, Hamas and Hizballah. This article reviews the rationale for the Israeli-Turkish strategic partnership in the 1990s and the early years of this century. It then documents deviations in Turkish foreign policy from Western patterns. Next it examines how changes in Turkey's twenty-first century strategic environment, as well as in the domestic arena, led to a reorientation of Turkish foreign policy and to current tensions in bilateral relations. And finally, it assesses the impact of the changes in Turkish foreign policy on the Greater Middle East and global politics.

Rethinking Israeli-Turkish Relations

2021

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Bilateral relations between Turkey andIsrael have existed on various levels for many years. Today, relations betweenthestates hinge primarily on trade, as mutual distrust prevents any meaningful progress despite periodic attempts at an easing of tensions. But theGuardian of the Walls operation proved once again that anti-Israeli sentiments exist not only in Turkey’s Nationalist/Islamist/Leftist circles but in Kemalist/secularist circles as well. The extent of anti-IsraelisminAnkarais so extreme as to be difficult if not impossible to bridge. Israel shouldexpect no change in this sentiment, not even during the first stages of apost-Erdoğan era.

REVISITING THE TURKISH-ISRAELI ALLIANCE OF THE 1990s, Israel Affairs, 2023,.

The Turkish-Israeli ‘honeymoon’ of the 1990s has been explained by different concepts such as alliance, strategic partnership, or cooperation and friendship, with these concepts often used interchangeably. As a corollary of the Turkish official narrative, which is based on a national security approach, certain explanations were offered in justification of the close relationship, including shared traditional democratic culture and secular character, as well as conducive international atmosphere. According to this construction, Turkey had no option but to align with Israel. On the other hand, while the ‘honeymoon’ was often seen as a foreign policy issue directly affected by the military bureaucracy, negative discourses against Israel in domestic politics, and institutional challenges in the Turkish state structure were often ignored. By way of filling this lacuna, the present article evaluates the impact of domestic factors, including the capital-owning class, lobbies, and institutional changes in the Turkish security apparatus on Turkish-Israeli relations.

TURKISH-ISRAELI RELATIONS: NEW PERSPECTIVES

To understand Turkish-Israeli relations’ main structure, we should applicate historical process and to be US ally. Israel’s existence is resourced from UN General Assembly’s “partition plan” .(1947) Turkey rejected “two state solution” resolution in the Assembly. In spite of the rejection behaviour, Turkey deployed in Palestine Reconciliation Council in UN, with US and France. (December 1948) As we know, Israel was founded in May 1948. And Turkey recognized Israel in March 1949. Turkey is the first country recognized Israel which has a Muslim majority population and was unique until 1978. Turkey’s attitude changed between from 1947 to 1949. Why Turkey became closer with US and Western axis. We must note that, Jewish lobby in US has so positive effect on US-Turkish relations. Turkish-Israeli relations is also a projection of US-Turkish relations for Turkey.

Turkish-Israeli Relations in a post-Arab Spring: A Historical Perspective

Turkish-Israeli Relations in a post-Arab Spring* : A Historical Perspective, 2013

By the beginning of 1997, the two states had secured numerous civil and military agreements, which gave rise to a genuine feeling of a common identity and a mutual future. Özet Bu makale tarihsel bağlamda Türkiye-İsrail ilişkilerine odaklanıyor. Türkiye 1949 yılında Yahudi Devleti'nin varlığını kabul eden ilk müslüman devletti. Bu noktadan sonra Türkiye, İsrail ve Arap Devletleri ile ara-sında kurduğu ilişkiyi dengelemeye devam etti. 90'ların sonuna doğru ise Türkiye ve İsrail arasındaki ilişki daha da kuvvetlendi. Ancak İkinci İntifada'nın gerçekleşmesiyle ilişkiler zedelenmeye başlayarak son dört yılda kopma noktasına geldi. İsrail'deki son seçimler göz önünde bulundurulduğunda İsrail'in Türkiye ile ilişkilerin düzeltmesi gerektiği görülüyor. İki ülkenin ilişkileri düzeltmesi, Arap Baharı'nın getirdiği zorluk-lara karşı göğüs germeye olanak sağlayacaktır.

The downfall of Turkish-Israeli relations: a cold peace between former strategic allies

Israel Affairs, 2020

The entire edifice of the strategic Turkish-Israeli alliance of the 1990s collapsed during the last ten years, with relations between the former partners characterised by antagonism and total lack of trust that make a genuine reconciliation rather inconceivable despite the existence of weighty common military and economic interests. This article examines the origins of the bilateral relations, the main causes of its decline, and the prospects for a future thaw.

Cooperation and conflict in Turkish-Israeli relations since the 1990s

Israel Affairs, 2023

Turkish-Israeli relations, which achieved the level of strategic cooperation in the late 1990s, began to decline in the late 2000s, especially after Israel’s 2008–9 Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. The existing literature enumerates several factors underlying the bilateral relationship but tends to overlook both states’ per-ceived identities and self-images. Focusing on the identity factor, this article ascribes the deterioration of Turkish-Israeli relations to the major changes in Turkey’s state identity during the years of AKP rule. By way of substantiating this argument, the article provides a brief overview of the literature on the role of state identity in international relations before exploring four case studies that exemplify the influence of state identity on Turkish-Israeli relations: the bilateral military cooperation agreement (1996); Operation Cast Lead and the attendant ‘Davos incident’ (2008–9); the Mavi Marmara crisis (2010); and the ‘Arab Spring’ of the early 2010s.

Ladders and ropes: Israeli-Turkish relations 2010-20

Israel Affairs, 2023

While Turkey was the first Muslim majority state to recognise Israel, bilateral relations underwent many ups and downs in subsequent decades, peaking in the 1990s and experiencing a sharp deterioration since the mid-2000s that culminated in the Mavi Marmara flotilla crisis of 2010. This article examines Turkish-Israeli relations in the 2010s, known as the 'lost decade', with a special emphasis on whether this period constitutes a continuation of the declining relations or a new link in the relations between the two states. Indeed, the hesitant reconciliation process that began in March 2022 with the return of ambassadors and a series of fence-mending steps was brought to an abrupt end in October 2023 as Ankara threw its full weight behind Hamas in its war against Israel.