Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
X. Uludağ Uluslararası İlişkiler Kongresi, Bursa, Türkiye, 8 - 10 Ekim 2018, ss.1-10
This paper analyses Turkish foreign policy under
the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government with a view to identify its
compatibility with that of the European Union.
The paper starts with a section on characteristics and evolution of
Turkish foreign policy. Following this, it focuses on the foreign policy of AKP
governments, which have been in power since 2002. Between 2002 and 2011
examples of divergence between Turkish and EU foreign policies can be observed.
However, the prevailing ethos of the period i.e., relying on soft power and
cooperating with neighbours is generally in line with the EU foreign policy
approach. Following this is the analysis of the period after the Arab
uprisings. Turkish response to the uprisings was a function of pre-existing
economic relations. Where Turkey had high levels of economic investment, Turkish
support to change took longer to come forth. Turkey could not avoid being
associated with a certain faction of the societies in Egypt, Syria and Libya.
In addition, Turkish foreign policy became interventionist during this period.
These made Turkish foreign policy incompatible with that of the EU. This study
argues that in the period after the Arab uprisings, approaches of the EU and
Turkey to foreign policy have diverged. Therefore, it is expected that
cooperation in foreign policy in the near future would be limited to the
security and energy realms in ad hoc bilateral mechanisms.