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ABSTRACT
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’ perceived 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.
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Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1. Tür, “Turkey and Israel”; Eligü, “Crisis in Turkish-Israeli Relations”; Özcan, “From Strategic Partnership to Successive Crises”; Uzer, “The Downfall”; Alyanak, “Tpq Roundtable”; and Ceylan, “Israel and Turkey.”
2. See, for example, Campbell, Writing Security; Reus-Smit, The Moral Purpose; Wendt, “Collective Identity”; and Katzenstein, The Culture of National Security.
3. Waever et al, Identity, 22.
4. Wendt, “Anarchy,” 406.
5. Berenskoetter, “Parameters”; and Wendt, Social Theory, 144.
6. Berenskoetter, “Parameters,” 266.
7. Bloom, Personal Identity.
8. Barnett, “Culture, Strategy and Foreign Policy Change,” 12–14.
9. Ringmar, Identity, 451.
10. Schilling, Emotional State Theory, xv.
11. Langenbacher, “Still the Unmasterable Past?” 22.
12. Bozdaglioglu, Turkish Foreign Policy, 26.
13. Barnett, “Culture,” 10.
14. Bozdaglioglu, Turkish Foreign Policy, 57.
15. Uzer, Identity, 45, 23–4.
16. Aybet and Müftüler-Bac, “Transformations,” 569.
17. Bozdaglioglu, Turkish Foreign Policy, 59.
18. VanderLippe, The Politics of Turkish Democracy.
19. Oǧuzlu, “The Changing Dynamics,” 6.
20. Uzer, “Conservative Narrative.”
21. Ibid., 6, 11.
22. Arin, “The AKP’s Foreign Policy,” 29.
23. Yavuz, “The Motives.”
24. Hazır, “Anti-Westernism,” 174–6.
25. Davutoğlu, Stratejik Derinlik, 180.
26. Cagaptay, “The New Davutoglu.”
27. Abadi, “Israel and Turkey”; Altunisik, “The Turkish-Israeli Rapprochement”; Bölükbaşı, “Behind the Turkish-Israeli Alliance”; Inbar, “Regional Implications”; Israeli, “The Turkish-Israeli Odd Couple”; Nachmani, Turkey; Robins, Suits and Uniforms; Bengio, The Turkish-Israeli Relationship; Bacik, “The Limits”; Makovsky, “Candar”; Jung and Piccoli, Turkey; and Murinson, Turkey’s Entente.
28. Makovsky, “Israeli-Turkish Relations,” 150.
29. Abadi, “Israel and Turkey.”
30. Uzer, “The Downfall,” 687.
31. Bishku, “How Has Turkey Viewed Israel?” 188; and Bengio, The Turkish-Israeli Relationship, 105.
32. Kasım, “Türkiye-İsrail İlişkileri,” 839; and Bölükbaşı, “Behind the Turkish-Israeli Alliance,” 31.
33. Walker, “Turkey”, 79; and Bölükbaşı, “Türkiye Ve İsrail,” 263.
34. Kogan, “Cooperation,” 9; and Bölükbaşı, “Behind the Turkish-Israeli Alliance,” 33.
35. Abadi, “Israel and Turkey”; and Dal, “The Transformation,” 248.
36. Avan, “Europeanization,” 692.
37. Kardaş, “Türkiye Ve Irak Krizi,” 362.
38. Tür, “Turkey and Israel,” 54; and Kanat, “Continuity.”
39. Allah, “An Account,” New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/world/historic-meeting-for-israel-and-pakistan.html.
40. Robins, “Turkish Foreign Policy,” 298–9; and Uzer, “The Downfall.”
41. Kösebalaban, Hasan Kösebalaban Türk, 340; and Philipp, “Turkey.”
42. Reuters, January 29, 2009, https://www.reuters.com/article/world-jan29-switzerland-davos-peres-erdo-idUS812520090129.
43. Times of Israel, December 10, 2012, https://www.timesofisrael.com/report-deputy-fm-ayalon-sacked-to-clear-way-for-renewed-israel-turkey-ties/.
44. Özcan, “Türk Dış Politikasında,” 47; Tür, “Turkey and Israel,” 56; Aviv, Antisemitism,154–5; and Almog and Sever, “The Mavi Marmara,” 73–4.
45. Yavuz, “The Motives,” 670.
46. Yavuz, “The Motives,” 671; Özdamar et al., “From Good ‘Neighbor to Model’”; and Yavuz, Nostalgia for the Empire, 230.
47. Goren, “An Unfulfilled Opportunity,” 125.
48. Yavuz, Erdogan, 298; Almog and Sever, “The Mavi Marmara,” 82.
49. Çiçekçi, “Aryanın Hegemonyası”; and Ulusoy, “Turkey and Israel.”
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Nurlan Muminov
Nurlan Muminov is a Research Associate at the Eurasian Research Institute, Khoja Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University, Turkestan, Kazakhstan