Turkish Foreign Policy about Solidarity with the Gaza Strip 2006-2016: Analytical Study

Abstract

This study examines one particularly fraught period of Turkish-Israeli relations in light of the support of the new Turkish government - under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan - for the Palestinian people, as well as the continued condemnation of arbitrary Israeli policies. These condemnations have aroused the concern of the Israelis on the one hand and on the other, reinforced their sense that the AKP's stay in power means that the "honeymoon" phase of the relationship between the two countries has ended irreversibly. This relationship took a new turn after 2006 as a result of the Israeli wars in the Gaza Strip. These wars led to the sliding of the relationship between the two countries demonstrated by several events: the most important of these being the verbal altercation at the Davos Economic Forum; media escalation between the two countries; the incident of humiliation of the Turkish ambassador in what was known as the "low chair" incident; and the Israeli assault on the Mavi Marmara and the Freedom Flotilla. In an effort to understand the development of these events and the ways the decision-makers of the Turkish Government are dealing with them, this study relies on the realism theory within the study of international relations, and is thus based on an understanding of the national interest that States seek to preserve, as well as an understanding of the balance of power.