The 6th Israel-Turkey Policy Dialogue of Mitvim and GPoT Center
The 6th Israel-Turkey Policy Dialogue of Mitvim - The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies and Global Political Trends (GPoT) Center, in cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES); Israel, took place on 18-19 October 2015 in Herzliya and Jerusalem.
Q & A on Turkish Developments
After the greetings by Dr. Werner Puschra, Director of FES Israel; Dr. Nimrod Goren, Head of the Mitvim Institute; and Dr. Sylvia Tiryaki, the Deputy director of GPoT Center, the Turkish delegation briefed the audience on recent developments in Turkey and its foreign policy.
Selin Nasi of Shalom newspaper discussed Turkish-Israeli bilateral relations by presenting incentives to normalize the relations of the two countries. Subsequently, GPoT Center’s Muhammed Ammash discussed the foreign policy priorities of major political parties in Turkey, and the impact of the upcoming general elections' possible outcomes on Turkish foreign policy. Moreover, GPoT Center’s Prof. Mensur Akgün and Dr. Sylvia Tiryaki answered the questions regarding recent developments in Turkey and the wider (Euro-Mediterranean) region.
Roundtable Meetings
After the briefing session, the first roundtable of the policy dialogue examined recent regional developments with particular focus on Syria, and mapped the shared and opposing interests of Israel and Turkey. The second roundtable examined the contemporary developments in Israel-Turkey bilateral relations, and centered on natural gas; and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, identifying possible opportunities and obstacles to the improvement of bilateral ties.
Meetings with Other Representatives
On the second day of the policy dialogue event, GPoT Center and Mitvim Institute representatives met Palestinian civil society representative Walid Salem to discuss the Palestinian perspective on regional developments, and Turkish Palestinian relations.
The second meeting took place with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, and featured topics as Eastern Mediterranean natural gas, Israel-Turkey bilateral relations, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Lastly, Mitvim and GPoT Center staff visited MK Ksenia Svetlova in the Knesset, and discussed current issues in Turkey-Israel relations and internal developments in the region.