Israeli-Turkish Relations at the End of the Cold War: The Geopolitics of Denying the Armenian Genocide

By Eldad Ben Aharon

In the shadows of Cold War politics, Israel quietly aligned itself with Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. Why, and at what cost?

Israeli–Turkish Relations at the End of the Cold War is the first book to pull back the curtain on the pivotal 1980s, revealing a period of clandestine diplomacy, strategic bargaining and calculated international memory trade-offs that reshaped Middle Eastern alliances.

Eldad Ben Aharon traces Israel’s diplomatic maneuvering through key geopolitical events, including Iran’s Islamic Revolution, the July 1980 Jerusalem Law, Turkey’s September 1980 military coup, and the 1982 First Lebanon War, alongside its secret dealings with Ankara. He situates these developments within broader regional and global shifts, such as Turkey’s 1987 bid to join the European Economic Community, U.S. foreign policy under Ronald Reagan and the early stages of the American 'war on terror.'

Ben Aharon challenges the conventional wisdom that credits American Jewish organisations and Turkish Jews with shaping Ankara–Jerusalem relations and influencing Washington’s policies. Ultimately, he shows how individual diplomats, operating in the shadows, forged an alliance that redefined Israeli–Turkish relations for decades to come.

304 pages

27 black and white illustrations

Published November 2025 (Hardback)