On 28 June 2026, the Israeli government formally recognised the Armenian Genocide, bringing to an end decades of official non-recognition. But to understand the significance of this moment, we need to go back to the decade in which Israel’s policy was fundamentally shaped: the 1980s. How formative were those years in establishing the relationship between Israel, Turkey, and the politics of Armenian Genocide recognition?
In his book Israeli–Turkish Relations at the End of the Cold War: The Geopolitics of Denying the Armenian Genocide, PRIF Senior Researcher Eldad Ben-Aharon pulls back the curtain on this pivotal decade, revealing a period of clandestine diplomacy, strategic bargaining, and calculated international memory trade-offs that reshaped Middle Eastern alliances. Drawing on declassified archives and 30 oral history interviews with Israeli, Turkish and Armenian officials, the book traces how secret contacts and strategic bargaining kept the relationship alive through the Iranian Revolution, Turkey’s 1980 military coup and the Reagan years. It also highlights the role of the Turkish military leadership and Turgut Özal in normalising ties. On November 30, Eldad Ben-Aharon will present his publication at the University of Oxford.
When: November 30, 2026, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm (CET/GMT+1)
Where: St Anne's College (Seminar room 5), Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HS
For more information, please visit the event's website.