Turkish Foreign Policy In An Age Of Uncertainty

The authors describe the challenges and opportunities facing Turkey in the international environment during a time of extraordinary flux. Special emphasis is given to the strategic and security issues facing Turkey, including a number of new issues posed by the terrorist attacks of September 2001 and the subsequent international response. They conclude by offering some prognostications regarding the country's future and their implications on Turkey's western partners.

Turkey at the Crossroadsexamines the country's attempts at modernization, from the Ottomans in the 19th century to the Kemalist Republic and the current day. The book argues that in order to fully achieve the level of modernization and democratization that will enable itto become a regional power, Turkey must first confront its authoritarian legacy of Ottoman imperial and political culture. Examining current ideological and political conflicts, the authors discuss a range of obstacles posed to future opportunities--especially that of the Kemalist ruling elite and its politically influential military.

Turkish foreign policy and its implications for Eurasian security.

This book investigates the effects of the Arab Spring on Turkish foreign policy using a multidimensional approach that draws on a wide range of disciplines from international relations to sociology and economics. The demands for democracy that began in Tunisia, when Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in 2010, rapidly spread across the Arab Middle East and Northern Africa. In countries dominated by authoritarian regimes, a freedom and sovereignty movement led by middle-class urbanites changed the quality of politics in the region. The focus and dynamics of the Arab Spring varied across countries where large-scale demonstrations were held, such as Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Jordan and Bahrain. While protests in Jordan and Bahrain had few consequences, they brought about changes in governments in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen. After the regime in Syria exerted all its strength to stay in power, the issue gained a regional, then international, dimension. The most bloody and complicated struggle caused by the wave of changes continues in Syria, with undoubtedly serious implications for Turkish foreign policy. As a counter-stance against the status quo in the Middle East, the Arab Spring has stimulated many discussions and this has led to the emergence of new regional actors.

With the end of Cold War discipline the world has entered a new era. Parameters have changed; new handicaps as well as new opportunities have been created for countries. Turkey as a neighbor of former USSR, a member of NATO and located at the center of a sensitive region covered by Caucasus, Balkans and Middle East, has been affected by the end of Cold War radically. Turkey has lost some of her bargaining cards in the new era and therefore has needed new arguments. This need encouraged Turkey to take active steps in Post Cold War era. This book analyzes Turkey s relations with US, EU, Balkans, Middle East, Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia, China and Japan. At the same time, effects of economic crises and domestic developments on foreign policy, Turkish model in Turkish foreign policy, water conflict and Kurdish problem are analyzed as well. To conclude, it is possible to argue that although Turkey lost some of her bargaining cards in Post Cold War era, new developments pushed Turkey to the center of world politics rather then to periphery. Contributors: Meliha Benli Altunisik, Deniz Ülke Aribogan, Hüseyin Bagci, Idris Bal, Zeyno Baran, Fulya Kip Barnard, Erol Bulut, Ibrahim S. Canbolat, Saziye Gazioglu, Ramazan Gözen, Saban Kardas, H. Bülent Olcay, Cengiz Okman, Henry E. Paniev, Victor Panin, Dirk Rochtus, Faruk Sönmezoglu, Gül Turan, Ilter Turan, Mustafa Türkes, Nasuh Uslu.

"As Turkey's regional and global roles and influence growth, this volume provides a critical understanding of how the current Turkish foreign policy within the "Enterprising and Humanitarian Framework" operates in practice to achieve Turkey's foreign policy ambitions"--

This timely book offers an accessible introduction to religion in international affairs. Shireen T. Hunter highlights the growing importance of religion in politics and analyzes its nature, role, and significance. She places the question of religion’s impact on global affairs in the broader context of state and nonstate actors, weighing the factors that most affect their actions. Through the lens of three compelling and distinctive case studies—Russia’s response to the Yugoslav crisis, Turkey’s reaction to the Bosnian war, and Europe’s policy toward Turkish membership in the EU—Hunter demonstrates that religion increasingly shapes international affairs in significant and diverse ways. Her book is essential reading for anyone needing a better understanding of why and, more important, how, religion influences the behavior of international actors and thus the character of world politics.

Turkey has faced, in the last two decades, a number of critical events, like wars, conflicts and frictions in the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the Middle East, that have represented a huge challenge for its foreign policy and civil and economic interventions. Turkish multi-directionality and multidimensionality have been tested by these occurrences, demonstrating that what some scholars and experts had defined as a “model” contained failures as well as success. This book examines these dynamics through case studies of the humanitarian, cultural, economic and political dimensions of Turkey’s role in a diffuse neighbourhood, in which the country has tried to exert its power in recent decades. Starting from the questions that the Cold War and the arrival of the AKP in government have opened for Ankara, the volume illustrates two of the most important sides of the Turkish strategic repositioning in the international system. The first part is focused on the main humanitarian and political struggles in contemporary Turkish society, while the second explores the main fault-lines in Turkey’s regional policy and the development of the country’s foreign policy. As such, the book represents a valuable resource for both graduate and undergraduate students, academics and researchers in the areas of Turkish studies, foreign policy, regional politics, Middle Eastern studies, security, political economy and European studies as well as for the general public.