Turkey's Search for a Third Party Role in Arab–Israeli Conflicts: A Neutral Facilitator or a Principal Power Mediator?

Abstract

This paper examines Turkey's increasing involvement in the Israeli-Syrian and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts as a third party in the last decade. The paper first discusses the underlying reasons and motivations behind the change in Turkish foreign policy. In this section we answer the following question: While the traditional Turkish policy in the Middle East was nonintervention, what factors contributed to this recent change? We discuss these as systemic factors and domestic factors. In the second section of the paper we summarize the theoretical literature on third party intervention and mediation especially focusing on strategies, modes, activities, and tactics used. This section lays the background for the following section which classifies the various Turkish third party strategies and activities in the Israeli-Syrian and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts so far. In the final section we focus on the challenges to this new Turkish role from Turkish, Israeli, and Arab perspectives. We also discuss the crises between Israel and Turkey in the last year and how they constitute a barrier to Turkey acting in an effective third party role.

İsrail’in 2011 Sonrası Bölgesel Vizyonunda Türkiye’nin Konumunun Kimlik-Güvenlik Penceresinden Analizi: Meydan Okuyucu Mu Yoksa Seyirci Mi?

“…In the first decade of the 2000s, Turkey attributed herself to the role of 'mediator' in the direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians (Altunisik and Cuhadar, 2010;Avan, 2019). Avan discusses Turkey's mediating role in the Israel-Palestine conflict in the 2000s within the context of the Europeanization of Turkish foreign policy but concludes that Turkey used EU norms and values to justify its policies and relations with controversial actors like Hamas (Avan, 2019, p. 692).…”

Τουρκία Και Ισραήλ Στη Μέση Ανατολή

“…Η Συρία και το Ιράκ είναι οι πλέον εξαρτημένες χώρες, λόγω του ξηρού κλίματος της περιοχής τους. Προς απογοήτευσή τους, στα τέλη του 1970, η112 Παρά έναν αριθμό πολυμερών και διμερών συνομιλιών μεταξύ Τουρκίας και Συρίας, η πρώτη κρίση προκλήθηκε στις 13 Ιανουαρίου του 1990, όταν περιορίστηκε η ροή του Ευφράτη από την Τουρκία, με σκοπό την πλήρωση της τεχνητής λίμνης του φράγματος Ατατούρκ (το οποίο ήταν τότε το τέταρτο μεγαλύτερο φράγμα στον κόσμο). Η ενέργεια αυτή καταδικάστηκε και χαρακτηρίστηκε από τη συντριπτική πλειοψηφία των αραβικών μέσων μαζικής ενημέρωσης ως πιθανό μελλοντικό casus belli.…”