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Abstract:
Since 2015, Turkey gradually has been moving toward a more nationalist discourse and direction in its foreign policy. This sharply contrasts with the liberal foreign policy orientation that Turkey implemented during the first decade of the Justice and Development Party government, as well as its idealistic assertiveness during the Arab Spring. In the Syrian conflict, Turkey has turned away from its initial goal of helping the anti-Assad opposition to a strategy that aims to restrain the territorial gains of separatist Kurdish groups. This transformation of strategic orientation is a product of emerging security threats, as well as changes in domestic politics including Turkey’s new presidential system. Rather than representing a return to rationality and realpolitik, the new orientation rests upon the traditional fears of disintegration and the culture of insecurity that the AKP governments had attempted to overcome. The Kurdish question has returned to its traditional position as the primary foreign policy challenge, and in reversing its original reformist agenda the AK government has embraced a military response to cope with this challenge, as demonstrated through numerous military land operations it has conducted in Syria. This new orientation has caused major frictions in relations with the United States and Europe, whereas it has led to a strategic rapprochement with Russia.
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Notes
1 On the AKP’s foreign policy from 2002 to 2016 see Edward Wastnidge, Imperial Grandeur and Selective Memory: Re-assessing Neo-Ottomanism in Turkish Foreign and domestic Politics, Middle East Critique, 28(1), pp. 12–17; on AKP foeigen policy after 2016, see the article by Umut Can Adisonmez & Recep Onursal, Governing Anxiety, Trauma and Crisis: The Political Discourse on Ontological (In)security After the July 15 Coup Attempt in Turkey, in this special issue.
2 On the AKP and MHP alliance see the article by Umut Uzer in this special issue.
3 C. Çakmak (Citation2016) Turkish–Syrian Relations in the Wake of the Syrian Conflict: Back to Securitization?, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 29(2), pp. 695–717.
4 Sabah (2011)‘Türk Vatandaşlarının Tek Vizeyle Gezeceği 3 Ülke’ [The three countries that Turkish citizens can enter with a single visa]. Available at: https://www.sabah.com.tr/gundem/2011/03/07/turk_vatandaslarinin_tek_vizeyle_gezecegi_3_ulke, accessed October 20, 2019; and BBC News (Citation2010) Turkey Agrees to Arab Trade Plan, June 10. Available at https://www.bbc.com/news/10290025, accessed October 20, 2019.
5 Raymond Hinnebusch (Citation2015) Back to Enmity: Turkey-Syria Relations since the Syrian Uprising, Orient, 56(1), pp. 14–22.
6 New York Times (Citation2018) How Syria’s Death Toll Is Lost in the Fog of War. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/world/middleeast/syria-death-toll.html, accessed April 15, 2018.
7 For insight on some of the challenges of the influx of Syrian refugees into Turkey, see Selin Akyuz & Özgün Tursun (2019) When Syrian ‘Girls’ meet Turkish ‘Boys’: Mapping genereded stories of mixed marriages, in Middle East Critique, 28, 1, pp. 29–49.
8 Sabah (2005) Başbakan’ın 2005’te Diyarbakır’daki konuşması [2005 Diyarbakır Speech of the Prime Minister]. Available at: https://www.sabah.com.tr/siyaset/2009/12/17/basbakanin_2005te_diyarbakirdaki_konusmasi, accessed October 20, 2019.
9 Milliyet (2009) Abdullah Gül: Kürt Sorunu Türkiye’nin Birinci Sorunudur [Abdullah Gül: Kurdish Question is Turkey’s Number One Issue] (9 May). Available at http://www.milliyet.com.tr/abdullah-gul–kurt-sorunu—-mesele-siyaset-1092779/, accessed April 17, 2018.
10 Milliyet (2009) Başbakan Erdoğan: Milli Birlik Projesi Bir Hedeftir [Prime Minister Erdogan: The National Unity Project is A Goal] (15 November). Available at http://www.milliyet.com.tr/basbakan-erdogan–milli-birlik-projesi-bir-hedeftir-siyaset-1162249/, accessed April 17, 2018.
11 Al Jazeera Turk (2014) Sürece Takvimli Yol Haritası [A Road Map with a Calendar for the Process] (8 July), available at http://www.aljazeera.com.tr/haber/surece-takvimli-yol-haritasi, accessed October 20, 2019.
12 R. T. Erdoğan (Citation2015) Tüm dünyaya sesleniyorum: Bedeli ne olursa olsun, Suriye’nin kuzeyinde, Türkiye’nin güneyinde devlet kurulmasına asla müsaade etmeyeceğiz [I am addressing the entire world: Whatever the cost, we will not allow a state to be established on the south of Turkey], @RT_Erdogan. Available at: https://twitter.com/RT_Erdogan/status/614536973529804800, accessed April 17, 2018.
13 Ahmet Taşgetiren & Yıldıray Oğur (2019) Ali Babacan Karar’a Konuştu: Yıl Bitmeden Partiyi Kuruyoruz [Ali Babacan Spoke to Karar: We Will be Establishing the Party before the End of the Year], Karar. Available at: https://www.karar.com/guncel-haberler/ali-babacan-karara-konustu-yil-bitmeden-partiyi-kuruyoruz-1319296#, accessed November 3, 2019.
14 Raymond Hinnebusch (Citation2013) Introduction: The Study of Turkey-Syria Relations, in: R. Hinnebusch & Ö. Tür (eds) Turkey-Syria Relations: Between Enmity and Amity (London: Routledge), 1-12.
15 Meliha B. Altunişik (Citation2008) The Possibilities and Limits of Turkey’s Soft Power in the Middle East, Insight Turkey, 10(2), p. 44.
16 H. Tarık Oğuzlu (Citation2016) Turkish Foreign Policy at the Nexus of Changing International and Regional Dynamics, Turkish Studies, 17(1), pp. 58–67.
17 Emel P. Dal (Citation2012) The Transformation of Turkey’s Relations with the Middle East: Illusion or Awakening?, Turkish Studies, 13(2), p. 258.
18 Rudaw (Citation2013) Salih Muslim’s Ankara Visit Marks Major Policy Change, available at: http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/29072013; and Hürriyet Daily News (Citation2014) A Conversation with Salih Muslim. Available at http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/opinion/verda-ozer/a-conversation-with-salih-muslim-75570, accessed October 20, 2019.
19 ‘Sinirlioğlu, Süleyman Şah Krizini Salih Müslim’le Birlikte Yönetti’ (6 March 2016), Sputnik News. Available at https://tr.sputniknews.com/politika/201603061021318778-sinilioglu-suleyman-sah-salih-muslim/.
20 See, for example, The Irish Times (2019) ‘Tens of thousands flee as Turkey presses Syria offensive’ (10 October).
21 Ziya Öniş (Citation2014) Turkey and the Arab Revolutions: Boundaries of Regional Power Influence in a Turbulent Middle East, Mediterranean Politics, 19(2), p. 211.
22 Hasan Kösebalaban (2015) Turkey in the Middle East: Ideals and Realities, Orient (Deutsche Zeitschrift Für Politik, Wirtschaft Und Kultur Des Orients), 56(1), pp. 29–36.