Turkey's Foreign Policy: Towards a Multiregional Rethinking? | ISPI

December 2013

Turkey's Foreign Policy:
Towards a Multiregional Rethinking?

Over the last decade Turkey has emerged as a prominent regional player. Leadership aspirations as well as strategic, economic and energy security interests have projected Turkish foreign policy toward its surrounding regions from the Middle East to the Caspian basin and Central Asia. In the latter case the cultural dimension has also played a significant role. The development of an export-oriented economic model has been a key aspect of Turkey's more assertive role in the neighbouring countries and in diversification of partners. Economic interdependence and soft power have been the pillars of Turkey's "zero problems with neighbours" strategy. However, changing regional dynamics as a result of the Arab uprisings and of the conflict in Syria in particular have had great impact on Turkey's regional policy and strategy. Although in a first stage Turkey was seen as the	"winner", also due to the attractiveness of the "Turkish model" for North African countries in transition, in the past two years relations with many regional countries have deteriorated. In contrast with its "zero-problem" policy, Turkey has become more directly involved in the crisis in its neighbourhood, losing the image of impartial mediator in regional disputes. Nevertheless, recent moves towards Iran and Iraq would suggest Ankara's attempts to	reset its current stance in a quickly evolving Middle East. At the same time better relations with other partners outside of the Middle East are likely to be enhanced. In this context, NATO's withdrawal from Afghanistan after 2014 might bring Central Asia to the top of Turkey's agenda, also in consideration of the high degree of investments it has made in the Afghan and South-Asian contexts.

Index

Meliha Benli Altunisik	Turkey after the Arab Uprisings: Difficulties of Hanging on in There Prior to the so-called "Arab Spring" Turkey had become quite active in the region. In line with the foreign policy perspective that was developed by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which has been ruling Turkey as majoritarian governments... More »

Valeria Talbot	Turkey and Iran: Resetting Relations? Turkey has strongly welcomed the interim agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme – reached by Tehran and the P5+1 countries (United States, Russia, China, France, United Kingdom and Germany) on November 24 – which could contribute to easing tensions... More »

Carlo Frappi	Central Asia's Place in Turkey's Foreign Policy Ever since the advent of the post-bipolar international system, Central Asian Republics (CARs) have had a special place in Turkey's foreign policy planning and vision, in primis as a result of the ethnic and linguistic bonds which link Ankara to four out of five of them... More »

Mustafa Kutlay	Skating on Thin Ice: the Political Economy of Turkish Foreign Policy over the Last Decade Turkey entered the 21st century with two seismic domestic developments. First, the Turkish economy plunged into a very deep economic crisis in February 2001. The crisis constituted a critical juncture in the sense that it drastically reshaped the power distribution... More »

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Valeria Talbot ISPI Senior Research Fellow, presents the study.

Research Team
Valeria Talbot (Head of Research), Meliha Benli Altunisik, Carlo Frappi, Mustafa Kutlay.


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Turkey Foreign policy Central Asia Iran Arab uprising Turchia