PDF Dosyası - Ankara Üniversitesi Kitaplar Veritabanı

future, the question will be whether Turkish flexibility will be suffıcientto ensure that water does not become a majör point of contention with eitherof Turkey's immediate Arab neighbors.The Arab-Israeli problem is of course essentially beyond Turkey'scontrol. Hovvever, so long as it remains unresolved that issue has the potentialto spark a generalized regional conflict into vvhich Turkey mightbe dragged. This consideration leads to tvvo conclusions. First, to the extentpossible, Turkey vvould do vvell to remain alert to any opportunity toencourage Arabs and Israelis to reach a final settlement. Rather than remainingas distant as possible from the Arab-Israeli problem, this vvouldimply a more proactive stance as a neutral, but interested, third party.Second, Ankara vvould best handle very gingerly any further developmentof Turkey's recently heightened military ties to Israel. Under currentlyprevailing regional circumstances, nothing could so ünite the Arab Worldin an anti-Turkish perspective as the further development of a Turco-Israeli strategic military partnership.In sum, Turkey's challenges in the Arab World fail into tvvo categories.On the one hand, there is the overall political context of the ArabWorld, marked by authoritarian structures, vveak institutionalization, therise of a highly competitive Islamic political ideology, and inevitably impendingchanges of regime in majör Arab countries. Ali this indicates anenvironment that vvill long be problematical and probably chronicallyprone to crises vvhose nature cannot be foreseen. On the other hand, thefive outstanding issues that currently or potentially promote tensions betvveenTurkey and Arab countries constitute more immediately pressingareas that Turkish foreign policy must continue to address.The Arab World, though broadly sharing common characteristics, isnot homogenous. I have argued elsevvhere that this provides vvide scopefor Turkey to pursue a mixed approach to the region that vvill maximizebenefits by developing closer ties vvith some Arab states vvhile reducingfrictions and the potential of friction vvith others 6 . In achieving this, thelegacy of Atatürk's approach to foreign policy vvill be key. Flexibility andpragmatism based on the clear principle that foreign policy must servethe basic domestic interests of the state and its population vvill undoubtedlybe the most effective pillars upon vvhich to base Turkey's future relationsvvith the Arab World.6. Dan Tcshirgi, "Turkey and the Arab World: Regional Partnere or Regional Rivals inthe tvventy-fırst Century", (Ankara: Ankara University, 1998)...incomplete citation.599