Information Report 17: Turkey and the Palestinian issue

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The Information Report # 17 considers the Turkish involvement in the Palestinian issue, following its historical development. Within that, it also considers the development of Turkish-Israeli relations on three levels: Political, Military and Economic.

Reaching for the present situation, the report describes the “new” Trukish role in the Palestinian issue, since the arrival of the AKP party to political power; and how –since then- the Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East has changed. Significant case studies in this aspect include: The peace talks, the inter-Palestinian reconciliation efforts, the Turkish stance in Davos when the Turkish and Israeli Prime Ministers had a stormy debate, and the siege on Gaza.

As that siege is ongoing, the report details the Turkish official and public positions on it, the aid presented, and the Turkish attempts at breaking it. The last of these attempts was the Gaza freedom flotilla that was aggressively targeted by the Israeli navy, which brought down the relations between Israel and turkey to an unprecedented strain.

This report is available fully for free download on al-Zaytouna Centre’s Arabic Website. ( Download)

The Information Report series was launched by the Information Department of al-Zaytouna Centre in early 2008. It aims at providing periodical, informative, concise and well-documented information set on selected issues of concern on the Arab and Muslim World, specifically the Palestinian issue.