Turkey's Foreign Policy

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the historical and present factors that shape Turkey's foreign policy. The paper organizes these factors into two main categories; state level factors and international level factors. The also paper shows how Turkey is faced with one of the most complicated foreign policy situations in the world. Additionally, the paper discusses how there is little doubt that they have the potentialto become a high ranking influential power; whether their potential is realized will depend largely upon what directions in foreign policy are pursued. The paper includes MLA style sources but does not append a bibliography.

From the Paper:

"Because the Ottoman Empire was essentially carved up by the victors of the Great War, Turkey was forced to totally redefine its foreign policy and self-image based on what the international community had given them. The result was a generally inward-looking policy that avoided foreign entanglements whenever possible, and such a policy has been the foundational belief and continuing practice of Turkish since its creation, with little variance until the end of the Cold War. Two factors are critical in explaining Turkey's historic restraint in foreign affairs. First, Turkey was reacting to the dramatic decline and fall of the Ottoman Empire, and the European battle of great-power politics. In order to keep it from being partitioned off by the European empires, Turkey had to distinguish itself clearly from its foreign empire, and assure its neighbors, by focusing solely on itself, that it was not threatening them by trying to revive old boundaries (the Soviet Union was the biggest threat, and an attempt to build a pan-Turkic empire would have no doubt ended in a battle which Turkey would undoubtedly have lost, followed by the Soviets annexing it into its Union of Republics)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Heper, Martin and Cinar, Menderes "Parliamentary Government with a Strong President," Political Science Quarterly 111, no. 3 (1996), 487.
• Kirisci, Kemal "U.S.-Turkish Relations: New Uncertainties in a Renewed Partnership," in Turkey in World Politics: An Emerging Multiregional Power, ed. Barry Rubin and Kemal Kirisci (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001), 132-137.
• Kirisci, Kemal "The Future of Turkish Policy Towards the Middle East," in Turkey in World Politics: An Emerging Multiregional Power, ed. Barry Rubin and Kemal Kirisci (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001), 94.
• Kut, Sule "The Contours of Turkish Foreign Policy in the 1990s," in Turkey in World Politics: An Emerging Multiregional Power, ed. Barry Rubin and Kemal Kirisci (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001), 10.
• Nachmani, Amikam"What Says the Neighbor to the West? On Turkish-Greek Relations," in Turkey in World Politics: An Emerging Multiregional Power, ed. Barry Rubin and Kemal Kirisci (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers,

More papers on Turkey's Foreign Policy:

• Analytical Essay # 65512 : "Turkish Foreign Policy"
• Term Paper # 112374 : "Turkey and the European Union"
• Essay # 17007 : "Turkey's Bid for EU Membership"

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