The Turkish-Israeli Alignment: Paranoia or Pragmatism?

The speed and scale of the development of ties -- military, intelligence, economic and civilian -- between Turkey and Israel in the 1990s marks a decisive departure from Turkey's hitherto low-key approach to the Middle East" (p91). Asserts that this rapprochement has been instigated by Turkey's military leadership, and ascribes its political motivation to a strategic paranoia ('encirclement syndrome') derived from memory of the Treaty of Sèvres, from the ambient irredentism consequent upon the break-up of the Ottoman Empire, and international opinion on the Kurdish question. Analyzes the military and economic dimensions of the rapprochement, and the mutual benefits conferred by it. Analyzes the driving forces of Turkey's Israeli initiative in terms of its uncertain relations with the EU and the USA, plus regional threats of missile and WMD proliferation.

Keywords: Israel – foreign relations; Turkey