Turkish–Israeli relations in the 1960s

Based on hitherto untapped documents from the Israeli and Turkish state archives, this article discusses Turkish–Israeli relations during the 1960s. It shows that since the relationship was more important for Israel, Ankara called most of the shots while Israel used its relative advantages, especially in the economic and trade fields, to keep the relations going. Hence, despite intensifying political and economic ties with the Arab world since the mid-1960s, Ankara resisted persistent pressures to downscale, if not end altogether, its relations with Israel, though these took the odd beating in line with the vicissitudes in Turkey’s domestic and international affairs.