After the Turkish Parliamentary Elections:

After the Turkish Parliamentary Elections: Big Hopes, with Remaining Worries

by Gallia Lindenstrauss, INSS, and Ceyhun Çiçekçi

Many in Turkey and abroad were surprised (and some also quite pleased) to see the setback suffered by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey’s June 7, 2015 parliamentary elections. Relative to other electoral campaigns in Turkey, Israel as an issue did not feature much. This should not be interpreted as a relaxation of tensions between the countries; rather, at this time the added value of emphasizing this issue was seen as limited. While the possibility of the return of the ambassadors to Ankara and Tel Aviv at some point under the new Turkish government cannot be ruled out, no one should expect a genuine improvement in the relations between Turkey and Israel in the foreseeable future. Whereas the tensions in relations were exacerbated by the long dominance of the AKP and Erdoğan’s rhetoric, there are also some root problems, foremost the impact of negative developments between Israel and the Palestinians on Turkish-Israeli bilateral relations. Specifically, Hamas’s rule over Gaza has been a major point of contention between the two states. Perhaps, however, Israel’s growing understanding of the urgent need to accelerate the reconstruction efforts in Gaza might ease some of the tensions between Turkey and Israel, at least regarding this issue.

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