The Israeli and Turkish Relationship Essay -- Diplomacy

Relationship between Turkey and Israel has been characterized with times of cooperation but also tension. It is a story that provides for interesting political episodes. Its history includes important trade and political interests bringing both sides’ benefits and, more recently, a rapid fall in their wide-ranging cooperation, bringing many disagreements which are yet to be resolved. Turkey was the first country with a prevailing Muslim population that recognized the independence that the state of Israel declared in1948. Thereafter, â€Å"after several decades of discreet relations, the Israeli-Arab peace process made public bilateral Israeli-Turkish ties more acceptable to Turks, who are predominantly Muslim and sympathetic to the Palestinians† (Migdalovitz). This initial fruitful level of cooperation among the two countries, however, experienced a downturn only a decade later. In 1991, Turkey sent its first ambassador to Israel since recalling his predecessor during the Suez crisis of 1956. And, in the intervening years, Turkey was represented in Israel by lower level diplomats. Moreover, the two regional neighbors cemented closer ties in part due to their common view of Syria, which at the time supported the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) insurgency in Turkey, with several military agreements and a free trade agreement in 1996.† Thus, the relations between Turkey and Israel blossomed with Israeli arms sales to Turkey, regular military exercises, the exchange of high-level official visits, and booming trade and tourism. Additionally, Israel modernized U.S.-made fighter planes, tanks, and helicopters for Turkey, and Turkey purchased Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles (Migdalovitz). Later on, these measures were accompanied and ... ...elebritychoice/tonybenn.shtml>. Inbar, Efraim. "The Deterioration in Israeli-Turkish Relations and its International Ramifications." 2011. Migdalovitz, Carol. Turkey: Selected Foreign Policy Issues. 28 11 2010. . Paul Rivlin, Yitzhak Gal. Israel’s Trade Relations with Turkey: an update. 1 May 2011. . Shaoul, Jean. Growing tensions between Turkey and Israel. 12 September 2011. . Turkone, Mumtazer. Where are Turkish-Israeli relations heading? 25 September 2011. . Weekly, Turkish. Turkish PM Erdogan to visit Israel, Palestine. April 30 2005. .