Turkish foreign policies determinants toward Palestinian issue under the rule of Justice and Development Party (2002–2015)

• Author: Mahmoud Ismael,Dalal Mahmoud,Sameh Al‐Qubaj
• Date: 01 May 2019
• Published date: 01 May 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1899

ACADEMIC PAPER

Turkish foreign policies determinants toward Palestinian issue

under the rule of Justice and Development Party (2002–2015)

Sameh Al‐Qubaj

1

|Mahmoud Ismael

2

|Dalal Mahmoud

2

1

Faculty of Administrative Science, Al‐Istiqlal

University, Jericho, Palestine

2

Faculty of Economics & Political Science,

Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

Correspondence

Mahmoud Ismael, Faculty of Economics &

Political Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.

Email: mismailcu@feps.edu.eg

The study aimed at identifying the determinants, premises and the milestones of the

Turkish Foreign Policy under the rule of the Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) toward

the Palestinian issue. The study sought to unveil the basics and foundations of this

new Turkish foreign policy, which the AKP depends on. The researcher investigated

historically the Turkish foreign policy toward the Palestinian issue in the last era. It

has established a kind of relative compatibility with the neighborhood and the world

on many foreign policy issues, which all are characteristics that granted Turkey the

possibility of establishing and implementing active and influential policies.

The Palestinian issue with all its intricate and barbed nature is the best entrance of

AKP Turkey to take a regional and international place. The Palestinian issue is

considered the entrance of AKP Turkey to the “Islamic World.”At the end of the

study, the researcher recommended that the Palestinian politicians benefit from the

Turkish foreign policy under the rule of the AKP. It is through this policy that Turkey

occupies a distinctive regional role through mediating between the disputing parties

and exploits this role and its acceptance by the international community in supporting

the Palestinian issue.

1|INTRODUCTION

For decades, Turkey has perceived a foreign policy inspired by the

path chosen by its founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, where the most

important features of this policy were to westernize and modernize

it. Ultimately, the relations with the West became the center of

Turkey's political interests, whereas the North Atlantic Treaty Organi-

zation (NATO) membership determined its military and strategic inter-

ests, and the process of joining the European Union (EU) became the

pivot of economic interests. (Zaytouna, 2010).

The assumption of power by Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP) in

2002 brought a reformulation of Turkey's general policies, including

its foreign policy after it had redefined its role and position. Conse-

quently, Turkey started to demonstrate more interest in regional

issues, most noticeably in the Palestinian issue. Turkey's foreign

policy activism has considerably increased under AKP rule over

the course of the last 14 years reflecting the country's new foreign

policy vision, which was formulated as the “strategic depth doctrine”

by its originator and architect Ahmet Davutoğlu. (Tekin & Tekin,

2015, p6).

Turkey's geostrategic and geopolitical location importance let AKP

governments adopt a more active and multidimensional foreign policy

toward regional issues as new power in the region.

1.1 |Study question

What are the Turkish foreign policies determinants toward Palestinian

issue under the rule of Justice and Development Party (JDP)?

1.2 |Study approach

Constructivist theory is considered the appropriate framework for this

study because it is used in studying the interests of the state and how to

interact in the formation of identity, and the influence of internal and

external elements in determining the state policy, including the national

security policy. In this paper, we are going to study the Turkish foreign

policy during the specified period toward the Palestinian issue.

Received: 20 October 2018 Accepted: 16 November 2018

DOI: 10.1002/pa.1899

J Public Affairs. 2019;19:e1899.

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1899

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa 1of9