Foreign Policy, 1923-2018

Turkey is a country full of contradictions. Its foreign policy seems, at the first glance, a hodgepodge of reactions to external events rather than part of a long-term design. A closer look, however, provides outlines of a general framework, conditioned by its geography and history, the international system, and the desires of the ruling group. Even a rudimentary analysis presents a complex mixture of factors affecting its foreign policy and the multi- layered approach it has to adopt in practice.

This chapter will look at the long-term dynamics of Turkish foreign policy to better understand its underlying structures and current, as well as past, travails. It will first look at the fundamental parameters that have informed policy-makers over the course of the last hundred years. Then, manifestations of the country’s choices in its international relations during the Cold War and early post-Cold War era will be analysed. Finally, it will probe the contemporary adaptation to the changing structural realities inside and outside the country, which challenge basic parameters of hitherto long-term certainties.