Between Inclusion and Stagnation: Military Manpower Policy Towards Druze in Israel and Jews in Turkey

Abstract

The Druze in Israel and the Jews in Turkey are two small ethnoreligious minority groups that share certain features. Nonetheless, the two groups have encountered very different policies from their respective governments concerning their integration into the military. While Israel has integrated the Druze, who have managed to reach senior and sensitive positions in the Israel Defense Force (IDF), Turkey has barely changed its recruitment policies regarding the Jewish minority since the early days of the Republic, and continues to refrain from placing Jews in command and officer functions. This paper presents four main reasons that explain the discrepancy between these two case studies: a historical factor; a cultural-religious factor; an ethnic-stereotypical factor; and a socioeconomic factor.