Turkish foreign policy towards al-Quds during the AK Party period: 2002-2019

There were up and downs in Turkish foreign policy towards al-Quds especially within the scope of its relations with both parties; Israel and Palestine. Turkey's behavior towards the Arab-Israeli conflict affected its relations with both Israel and the Arab states. There were times when Turkey supported the Arab side. However, its recognition of the state of Israel in 1948 was criticized by the Arabs. Some scholars and diplomats argue that the recognition was used as a tool to help the Palestinians. For instance, in case if Turkey did not recognize Israel, it would not be able to use diplomacy and NGOs as a tool of its influence in the region and its influence would be limited in various dimensions. On the other hand, another point which is worth mentioning is the change and the developments in Turkish foreign policy and the reflections of this changes to the case of al-Quds. Especially within the last decades there were structural and practical changes in Turkey's foreign policy towards al-Quds. This can be explained with the characteristics and ideologies of the individuals, foreign policy makers and the decreasing influence of the West towards Turkey's foreign policy. Until 2002, Turkey has been implementing the Western model. However, currently there are visible changes that Turkey abandoned this kind of policy. At this point, the research will investigate the main structure of Turkish foreign policy towards al-Quds from 2002 to 2019. Eventually, the outcomes of these current policies are also one of the significant subjects of the research.