“Patience and Persistence”: Ambiguous Turkish–Israeli Relations in the 1960s

Turkey’s relationship with the Yishuv, or Jewish community, has been ambiguous since before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Most of the literature features the later years, whereas the 1960s seem to have been forgotten or merely superficially discussed, mostly because the decade is perceived as belonging to the Cold War era, and, in many respects, only a continuation of the previous decade. Drawing primarily on the Israeli and Turkish State Archives and bulletins from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this article examines Turkish–Israeli relations during this decade and argues contrary to the prevailing view that the crisis during the deterioration of relations was not a result of the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or the rise of the then Turkish Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel’s government, but rather represented a conscious shift in Turkey’s foreign policy that sacrificed its relations with Israel, arguably for more urgent interests such as strengthening ties with the Arabs.