Israeli Turkish Relations

Israeli Turkish Relations

1. Introduction

When one looks at the trouble-ridden relations between Israel and Turkey today, it may be difficult to imagine that the two countries viewed each other as close partners less than two years ago. Yet currently, while maintaining diplomatic ties and expressing aspirations that they would like to have better relations with each other, the two countries are continuing to move apart with no indication of improvement in the near future. What happened and why?

2. Background to Partnership

Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Israel. After Israel's founding Turkish-Israeli relations, though occasionally suffering from the negative effects of Arab-Israeli problems developed in a positive direction. Turkey has cooperated with the State since its recognition of Israel in 1949.The first Turk - Israeli relations made highly secretly between. Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and Israel Prime Minister David Ben Gurion. The Turkey insisted on a low profile relationship to abstain offending to Arab world. The Israeli Government thirsting for recognition in the region felt the frustration echoed by Ben Gurion when he complained that "The Turks have always treated us as one treats a mistress, and not as a partner in an openly avowed marriage " .Turkey's advised approach was partly to her obsession with alleged potential communism in the Jewish state. Although Turkey and Israel did not establish full diplomatic relations until 1991. Turkey's ties to the other Muslim majority nations in the region have at times resulted in pressure from Arab and Muslim states to temper its relationship with Israel, leading each country to view the other as a partner for a variety of reasons. To begin with, after the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the new Turkish Republic oriented itself fully toward Europe and took a limited interest in the Arab Middle East. Semi colonial countries with traditional rulers hardly constituted attractive partners for a secular republic that was striving to develop into a modern country. Israel, on the other hand, was another modern, western oriented country with whom Turkey could identify.

Second, when Israel was established, the Cold War had already begun. Soon major Arab countries experienced regime change through military takeovers. The new leaders were anti-western and favourably disposed toward the Soviet Union, an understandable position since their countries had been the direct targets of western imperialism. Turkey, however, felt threatened by Soviet expansionism. Israel had close relations with the United States, and as such, constituted a natural regional friend for Turkey. For Israel, encircled by hostile Arab regimes, Turkey seemed to be a natural partner as well.

Third, the relationship grew more comprehensive over time as either side offered the other opportunities for cooperation. For example, the close cooperation between the United States and Israel regarding defence industries enabled Turkey to procure some of its materials and maintenance services reliably and more economically from Israel. For its part, Israel got to use Turkish territory for training its air force jet pilots since its own territory was too small to allow training flights.

Lest one get the impression that the relations were mainly in the military domain, it should be pointed out by way of example that Israel was one of the main suppliers of irrigation technology to Turkey, while Turkish companies were active in the construction business in Israel. Furthermore, tens of thousands of Israelis took their vacations in Turkey.

Fourth, the smoothness of relations impressed the American friends of Israel, who extended their support to Turkey in resisting the anti-Turkish activities of ethnic lobbies in the United States. As Turkey experienced occasional difficulties in its relations with the United States, it felt that it could always count on the friends of Israel in America to come to its assistance.

Relations were good, if not always as exemplary as they might have been. But potential difficulties were never absent. Israel was hardly well-regarded in Turkish public opinion. True, anti-Israel feelings were never so critical as to pressure the successive governments to entertain major policy shifts. But irrespective of political ideology, many Turks were critical of the harsh way the Palestinian population was treated and the reluctance that Israeli governments displayed in working for a solution acceptable to all parties. Also, as Turkish governments wanted to develop new relations in the Arab and Muslim world or expand existing ones, Turkey's closeness to Israel often constituted an important limitation. Although often identified as being moderately Islamist, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) government pursued the same policy as preceding governments until 2009.

3. The Path towards Good Intentions

The AKP first achieved power in the elections of 2002 and returned to power in 2007. From the beginning, a key figure in the formulation of the AKP government's foreign policy had been Professor Ahmet Davutoğlu, advisor to the prime minister. His influence came to be felt even more after Vice Premier and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül left the government for the presidency after the elections of 2007. Davutoğlu became the foreign minister during a cabinet reshuffle in 2009. His vision is to expand the role of Turkey as a multi-regional power. To realize this vision, Turkey must achieve a state of "zero problems with neighbours," and must help resolve other regional conflicts.

The problematic relations between Arab countries, Israel, and the Palestine problem constitute a challenging nexus, but one that needs to be addressed if peace is to come to the region. It is with this line of thinking that the Turkish government succeeded in persuading Syria and Israel to accept indirect proximity talks mediated by Turkey in 2008 in order to proceed to direct negotiations to resolve outstanding issues and sign a peace agreement. Both governments appeared to be interested and to trust Turkey. All indications are that an agreement was almost complete and only some questions of wording remained. Prime Minister Olmert returned to Israel from a trip to Turkey, creating the impression that he was going to finalize the agreement with his government. Instead, Israel launched its ever biggest attack on Gaza on December 26, 2008, ostensibly to stop arms imports into the area