Turkey’s muddled approach to Palestine
Ankara sees a recently ratified security cooperation deal between Turkey and the Palestinian Authority as groundwork for a possible maritime boundary agreement between Turkey and Palestine. Experts see such prospects as far-fetched.
As the Holy Land emerges from a fresh round of clashes, Turkey has ratified a comprehensive cooperation agreement with the Palestinian administration that was signed in 2018. While Turkish media is trumpeting the agreement as an “important step,” experts believe the deal will have limited practical meaning.
In addition to its showy name — the Security Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Turkey and the Government of the State of Palestine — the content of the agreement, which came into effect on June 3, is quite vast and involves cooperation in combating terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal immigration and money laundering; the illegal trade of historic artifacts, weapons, ammunition, explosives, and nuclear, biological, chemical, and radioactive materials; and forgery of official documents, cybercrimes and organized crime.
Under the agreement, Turkey aims to train and support the Palestinian police, gendarmerie and coast guard forces in a bid to prevent terrorist attacks and finance of terrorism through know-how, information and intelligence sharing.
Intriguingly, despite its critical and comprehensive content, the agreement was signed by deputy interior ministers of both parties instead of the interior ministers.
