Italy–Turkey relations

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Italian-Turkish relations
Map indicating locations of Italy and Turkey

Italy
Turkey

Italy-Turkey relations refer to relations between Italy and Turkey. Both countries are members of NATO and the Union for the Mediterranean and have active diplomatic relations.

History[]

16 May 1912: surrender of the Turkish garrison in Rhodes to the Italian general Giovanni Ameglio near Psithos.

Turkey, then the Ottoman Empire, begun its first diplomatic mission to Italy in 1856, shortly before the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy, by sending Ambassador Rüstem Pasha.[1] Since then, Turkey has had a constant presence in Italy throughout both their embassy in Rome and their consulates in Milan and Naples.[2]

In 1902, a diplomatic crisis between Italy and the Ottoman took place. The crisis began due to the Ottomans failing to prevent attacks by Turkish Arabs on Italian sambuks. When the Ottoman Empire refused to take precautions to prevent these attacks after repeated Italian threats, Italian warships bombarded Port Midi from 31 October onwards. On 10 November, the Ottoman Empire capitulated and agreed to take measures to curb piracy as well as pay an indemnity, ending the crisis.[3]

From 1911 to 1912, Italy and the Ottoman Empire fought a war over the Turkish provinces of Tripolitana and Cyrenaica, with the former emerging as the victor.[4] During the conflict, Italian forces also occupied the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea. Italy agreed to return the Dodecanese to the Ottoman Empire in the Treaty of Ouchy[5] in 1912. However, the vagueness of the text, combined with subsequent adverse events unfavourable to the Ottoman Empire (the outbreak of the Balkan Wars and World War I), allowed a provisional Italian administration of the islands, and Turkey eventually renounced all claims on these islands in Article 15 of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.[6]

In the 1990s, the diplomatic relations were very tense as Italy refused to extradite Abdullah Öcalan to Turkey, alleging that it was contrary to Italian Law that someone would be extradited into a country in which he would expect the death penalty.[7] Turkey, who has displayed a lot of diplomatic pressure for the extradition, opposed such verdict. The Defense minister of Turkey Ismet Sezgin mentioned that Turkey would review the candidates for an order for attack helicopters worth of 3.5 Billion dollars, for which before the rejection of the extradition the main candidate was the Italian Finmeccanica.[8] Mesut Yilmaz, the Turkish prime minister at the time also threatened that Italy is on track to earn Turkey's "eternal hostility".[7]

Italy's presence in Turkey now consists of an embassy in Ankara, a General Consulate in İstanbul, and a consulate in İzmir, together with honorary consulates in Antalya, Bursa, Gaziantep, İskenderun, and Nevşehir, and a Consular Correspondent in Eskişehir.[9]

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio condemned the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, declaring that the offensive against Kurdish forces in Syria is "unacceptable" and calling for an immediate end to the fighting.[10] Italy joined an arms embargo against Turkey, despite previously being Turkey's primary EU weapons supplier.[11][12]

Following a diplomatic incident dubbed as Sofagate in April 2021, Mario Draghi's remarks describing Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a "dictator" were heavily criticized by the Turkish Foreign Ministry.[13]

Intercultural influences[]

Italian culture in Turkey[]

Istanbul is home to one of the Italian Cultural Institutes opened throughout the world by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[14] The Institute, among other cultural activities, offers Italian language courses, also offered by a number of Turkish universities, such as Ankara University and Istanbul University.[15]

İzmir and Ankara are hosts to, respectively, the Italian Culture Center "Carlo Goldoni"[16] and the Italian Friendship Association "Casa Italia".[15] Both of these associations engage in the organisation of events promoting Italian culture and of courses teaching the Italian language.

A number of Italian schools are present in Turkey, with the great majority of them being located in Istanbul. Italian schools in Turkey include kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools.[15]

Immigration[]

It is estimated that there are 30,000 to 40,000 Turks residing in Italy.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "T.C. Dışişleri Bakanlığı Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Roma Büyükelçiliği". roma.be.mfa.gov.tr. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
  2. ^ "T.C. Dışişleri Bakanlığı Milano Başkonsolosluğu". milano.bk.mfa.gov.tr. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
  3. ^ Baldry, John (1976). "Anglo-Italian Rivalry in Yemen and ʿAsīr 1900-1934". Die Welt des Islams. 17 (1/4): 158, 159. doi:10.2307/1570344. ISSN 0043-2539. JSTOR 1570344.
  4. ^ "Italo-Turkish War | 1911–1912". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-02-24.
  5. ^ "Treaty of Lausanne, October, 1912". www.mtholyoke.edu. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  6. ^ "Treaty of Lausanne - World War I Document Archive". wwi.lib.byu.edu. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  7. ^ a b Stanley, Alessandra (1998-11-21). "Italy Rejects Turkey's Bid For the Extradition of Kurd (Published 1998)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  8. ^ Stanley, Alessandra (1998-11-21). "Italy Rejects Turkey's Bid For the Extradition of Kurd (Published 1998)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  9. ^ "La rete consolare". ambankara.esteri.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-09-19.
  10. ^ "Turkish operation in Syria is 'unacceptable': Italian foreign minister". Reuters. October 10, 2019 – via www.reuters.com.
  11. ^ Brzozowski, Alexandra (2019-10-14). "EU condemns Turkey's military action, stops short of common arms embargo". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  12. ^ "Italy to block arms exports to Turkey - Di Maio - English". ANSA.it. 2019-10-14. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  13. ^ "Italy's Draghi slams Erdoğan as a 'dictator' after Sofagate". POLITICO. 2021-04-08. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
  14. ^ "Istituto Di Cultura - Istanbul". www.iicistanbul.esteri.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-03-01.
  15. ^ a b c "Cultura e lingua italiana". ambankara.esteri.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-09-19.
  16. ^ "İtalyan Kültür Merkezi. İtalyanca dil okulu İzmir'de | Hakkımızda". İtalyan Kültür Merkezi. İtalyanca dil okulu İzmir'de (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-09-19.

External links[]

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