TURKEY’S RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL IN THE 2000s: A CONSTRUCTIVIST PERSPECTIVE A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY DERVİŞ FİKRET ÜNAL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS JUNE 2016 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. Özlem Tür Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. Özlem Tür Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. İhsan Dağı (METU, IR) Prof. Dr. Özlem Tür (METU, IR) Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı (METU, IR) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şaban Kardaş (TOBB ETÜ, IR) Assoc. Prof. Dr. İlker Aytürk (BİLKENT, ADM) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Derviş Fikret Ünal Signature : iii ABSTRACT TURKEY’S RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL IN THE 2000s: A CONSTRUCTIVIST PERSPECTIVE Derviş Fikret Ünal Ph.D., Department of International Relations Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Özlem Tür July 2016, 299 pages The main aim of this dissertation is to understand Turkey’s relations with Israel in the 2000s from the perspective of Turkey’s state identity. The research question of this dissertation is whether or not the concept of “state identity” is relevant to the Turkish-Israeli relations, and if so, to what extent. This dissertation also studies if there is continuity or change in Turkey’s state identity in the 2000s. To that end, the dissertation compares and contrasts the situation before and after the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) term from a theoretical perspective in order to reach a final analysis. This dissertation assumes that the change in the Turkish-Israeli relations in the 2000s from the strategic relations to crises can be explained by the change in Turkey’s state identity from the pro-Western stance to the Middle Easternized Central Country / Heir of the Ottoman Empire stance. Keywords: State identity, interest, foreign policy, Turkey, Israel iv ÖZ 2000’Lİ YILLARDA TÜRKİYE’NİN İSRAİL’LE İLİŞKİLERİ: İNŞACI BİR BAKIŞ AÇISI Derviş Fikret Ünal Doktora, Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Özlem Tür Temmuz 2016, 299 sayfa Bu tezin temel amacı, 2000’li yıllarda Türkiye’nin İsrail’le olan ilişkilerini Türkiye’nin devlet kimliği bakış açısından anlamaktadır. Tezin araştırma sorusu, “devlet kimliği” kavramının Türk-İsrail ilişkileriyle ilgili olup olmadığı, ilgili ise, ilişkileri hangi dereceye kadar açıklayıcı olduğudur. Bu tez, 2000’li yıllarda Türkiye’nin devlet kimliğinde süreklilik veya değişim olup olmadığını da ele almaktadır. Bu doğrultuda, sözkonusu tez, teorik bir çerçevede nihai bir analize varmak amacıyla, Türkiye’de Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi iktidarı öncesi ve sonrasını kıyaslamaktadır. Bu tez, Türkiye-İsrail ilişkilerinin, 1990’lı yıllarda “stratejik ilişkiler” tanımlamasından 2000’li yıllarda “krizler dönemine” dönüşmesine yönelik değişiminin, Türkiye’nin Batılı devlet kimliğinin Ortadoğululaşmış Merkez Ülke / Osmanlı İmparatorluğu’nun Mirasçısı kimliğine dönüşmesiyle açıklanabileceğini ileri sürmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Devlet kimliği, çıkar, dış politika, Türkiye, İsrail v To Salih Miroğlu, Nurten Ege, Fikret Ünal, Refik Ege, Mahiye Ünal, my family and the persons who always trust and help me vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I do owe a deep debt of gratitude to those people who support to complete my dissertation. First of all, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Özlem Tür for her guidance, advice, suggestion, criticism, encouragement and patience. I am also grateful to the members of my examining committee: Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı and Prof. Dr. İhsan Dağı for their invaluable and constitutive advices to my dissertation. I wish to express my gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şaban Kardaş and Assoc. Prof. Dr. İlker Aytürk for their participation in the defense of this dissertation and valuable comments and guidance. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Oktay Tanrısever, Prof. Dr. Ofra Bengio, Prof. Dr. Yoav Peled and Prof. Dr. Yossi Shain for their contributions, comments and advices. I would like to thank former Undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Ambassador H.E. Ertuğrul Apakan, Turkish Ambassador to Athens H.E. Kerim Uras, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Turkish Embassy to Athens H.E. Barış Kalkavan, former Deputy Chief of Mission of the Israeli Embassy to Ankara H.E. Nizar Amer, former Press Officer of the Israeli Embassy to Ankara Ms. Deniz Akkuş and Press Officer of the Israeli Embassy to Ankara Mr. Barkın Öztürk. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my mother Nergiz Ünal, my father Eyüp Sacit Ünal, my brother Refik Cem Ünal and my sister Elif Ünal. They always encouraged and supported me. And I also wish to express my sincere gratitude to my close friends Özgür Ütük and Murat Demirel. I would like to thank everybody who supported me during my study. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM……………………………………………………………………..iii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………..iv ÖZ…………………………………………………………………………………..v DEDICATION..........................................................................................................vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………...vii TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………...viii LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………ix ABBREVIATIONS………………………………………………………………...x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Literature Review…………………………………………………...……..2 1.2. Theoretical Framework: Constructivism……………………………..……9 1.3. The Concept of State Identity……………………………...........………..11 1.4. Turkey’s State Identity……………………………………………………16 1.5. Methodology……………………………………………………………...26 1.6. The Contents of Dissertation……………………………………………..28 2. CONSTRUCTIVISM IN FOREIGN POLICY-MAKING 2.1. Constructivist Theory…………………………………………….............32 2.2. Defining Identity………………………………………………………….34 2.3. Identity and Its Impact on Foreign Policy………………………………..40 2.3.1. Identity and Continuity in Foreign Policy…………………………44 viii 2.3.2. Identity and Change in Foreign Policy…………………………….46 2.4. State, Identity and Interests……………………………………………….47 2.5. International System……………………………………………………...50 2.6. Chapter Conclusion……………………………………………………….52 3. THE LEGACY OF HISTORY IN THE TURKISH-ISRAELI RELATIONS 3.1. The Ottoman Empire……………………………………………………..55 3.1.1. Zionism: Towards a Jewish National Home………………………58 3.1.2. The First World War………………………………………………63 3.2. Foundation of the Republic of Turkey: Rebuilding the State through an Inward-Oriented Strategy and Maintenance of Status quo……………….66 3.2.1. The Jewish Community in Turkey during the Foundation Years ...68 3.2.2. The Second World War, Turkey and the Jewish Community ...…..72 3.3. Chapter Conclusion………………………………………………...……..74 4. THE TURKISH-ISRAELI RELATIONS FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL TO THE END OF THE COLD WAR (1948-1990) 4.1. The New International System after the Second World War: Turkey’s State Identity under the Impact of the West……………………………………77 4.2. UN Partition Plan, Foundation of the State of Israel and Turkey ….…….80 4.3. Turkey’s Relations with Israel (1948-1960) ..................…………………82 4.3.1. The Law of Return of 1950………………………………………..87 4.3.2. The Events of 6-7 September 1955 ………...……………………..88 4.3.3. The 1956 Suez War………………………………………………..89 4.3.4. The Periphery Pact of 1958………………………………………..91 4.4. Turkey towards Autonomy? Relations with Israel (1960-1990)………... 95 4.4.1. The 1967 Arab-Israel War…………………………………………97 ix 4.4.2. The War of Attrition (1967-1970) and the 1973 War……………100 4.4.3. The Jerusalem Law of 1980 and the Last Years of the Cold War..105 4.5. Chapter Conclusion……………………………………………………...110 5. THE TURKISH-ISRAELI RELATIONS IN THE POST-COLD WAR PERIOD (1990-2002) 5.1. Turkey’s Shared State Identity with Israel in the post-Cold War Era: Towards a ‘Strategic Relationship’ in the Middle East…………………114 5.1.1. The Gulf War………………………………………………….….116 5.1.2. The Madrid Peace Conference……………….……………..........117 5.1.3. The Oslo Peace Process and Afterwards…………………………118 5.1.4. The Middle East Peace Process and Turkey’s Relations with Israel………………………………………………………………..120 5.2. The Welfare Party-True Path Party Coalition in Turkey (1996-1997): The Duality of Turkey’s State Identity? Farewell to Israel?............................127 5.3. Coalition Governments in Turkey (1997-2002): 5.3.1. Continuity in Turkey’s State Identity and its Relations with Israel..................................................................................................133 5.4. Chapter Conclusion……………………………………………………...140 6. THE FOUNDATION OF THE JDP’S FOREIGN POLICY IDENTITY 6.1. Learning from the Past………………………………………………......144 6.1.1. The 28 February Process…………………………………..……..147 6.1.2. The EU Accession Process……………………………………….152 6.2. The Impact of Davutoğlu’s Idea………………………………..……….153 6.2.1. Davutoğlu’s Concepts on Civilizations…………………………..153 x 6.2.2. Davutoğlu’s Strategic Depth Theory……………………………..156 6.2.3. Davutoğlu’s Zero-Problem Policy………………………………..160 6.3. Foreign Policy Making in the JDP Period……………………………....162