Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Åžaban KardaÅŸ ¹
• Bayram Sinkaya ²

¹ Research Professor, Gulf Studies Center, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar/ On leave from the TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Ankara, Turkey

² Associate Professor of International Relations, Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

This article analyzes the transformation of Turkish foreign policy towards the Middle East during the turbulent years initiated with the Arab Spring. In due course, Turkish policy considerably shifted from proactive engagement with the region in the early 2000s to a bid to leading regional transformation, particularly in the initial years of the Arab Spring. However, the reversal of the Arab Spring increasingly presented a blowback for Türkiye’s regional engagements. The ensuing regional insecurity resulted in a realist turn in Turkish foreign policy, with frequent resort to military instruments and coercive diplomacy. Eventually, regional policies of Türkiye corresponded to the search for de-escalation and normalization within the emerging Middle Eastern order since 2020. The article argues that changing regional dynamics corresponding with domestic conditions influenced and shaped Türkiye’s policies towards the Middle East. Recently, under the impact of the regional-systemic pressures coupled with changing domestic conditions, recalibrating its regional engagement, Türkiye has prioritized the normalization agenda. It argues that while normalization agenda will remain an important objective for Türkiye’s regional policies, it will evolve in a partial manner, and case-by-case, conditional on the unfolding regional order and Ankara’s strategic priorities.

Keywords

• Arab Spring
• Middle Eastern Order
• Regional Normalization
• Securitization
• Strategic Autonomy
• Turkish Foreign Policy

Main Subjects

• The Persian Gulf, West Asia and the Middle East
• Turkey