Filistin Politikamiz: Camp David'den Mavi Marmara'ya.

• Author: Cevik, Salim
• Position: Book review

Filistin Politikamiz: Camp David'den Mavi Marmara'ya

By Erkan Ertosun

Istanbul: Kaknus Yayinlari, 2013, 349 pages, ISBN 9789752563971.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is presumably the most problematic and persistent theme in Middle Eastern politics. Thus, the conflict is one of the most studied topics in academic literature on the region. In this light, it is all the more surprising that the current study of Erkan Ertosun is the first book-length work on Turkey's Palestinian policy. It is also a very timely contribution as Palestine becomes an ever more central topic in Turkish foreign policy.

The author claims that he has attempted a holistic analysis in which domestic, regional and international factors are integrated. However, despite this claim, the real emphasis of the book is on international affairs and rightfully so.

One of the strongest parts of the book is that its analysis, unlike many other works that are shaped by contemporary developments, is based on historical analysis. Thus, the book covers the fifty years of the problem's history and analyzes Turkey's Palestinian policy in the general context of Turkish foreign policy throughout this time period. The author defines the general parameters of Turkish foreign policy as being pro-status quo, pragmatic and Western. Turkey's approach to the Palestinian issue is also shaped by these parameters and through Turkey's relations with the West in general and the United States in particular. Thus, while following Turkey's policy in the last fifty years, the author enables the reader to see the shifts in Turkish foreign policy and relate them to Turkey's Palestinian policy. However, the real focus of the book is on the post-1979 period. After a brief historical account of Turkey's pre-1979 policy, the book goes on to analyze Turkey's Palestine policy since 1979. According to the author, there are four critical junctures in this time period: the Camp David Agreement in 1979, the end of the Cold War in 1991, the failure of Camp David II in 2000, and the rise of the Second Intifada and the attack on Mavi Marmara in 2010.

The book provides a detailed historical analysis of Turkey's Palestinian policy in each of these periods. The over-all analysis reveals that, despite a general pro-Palestinian stance, Turkey's approach to the problem and its relation with Israel went through considerable fluctuations and shifts. Initially taking a pro-Palestine position, Turkey was the first...