Italian-Turkish Relations: Potential and Limits of a ‘Strategic Partnership’

Abstract

Italy and Turkey have built over the decades a partnership based on economic cooperation, shared international concerns, and a common vision of Turkey’s future as a member of the European Union. Italian perceptions of Turkey, however, are negatively affected by antiMuslim sentiments among the Italian public. Negative views about Turkey’s post-Kemalist establishment have become more widespread also among Italian elites in the context of the debate on Turkey’s ‘drift from the West’. The “Arab Spring” of 2011, which has forced Ankara to appreciate the common challenges it faces in the MENA region together with the rest of the West, has partly assuaged concerns of a “de-alignment”, confirming that Turkey has specific ambitions but also broadly shares Western strategic assessments. While Rome remains committed to Turkey’s EU aspirations, the fading of the membership perspective since 2005 has led Italian governments to support the accession process mainly as way to further strengthen bilateral ties. The relationship, finally, is adjusting to new power realities. Turkey’s ascent at a time of economic and political difficulties in Italy and in the EU, raises questions of influence in areas of common

Keywords

• Italy, Turkish foreign policy, Arab Spring, European integration, Mediterranean, public opinion.

References

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