Shlykov Pavel Vyacheslavovich – Ph.D. in history, associate professor, Middle Eastern history department, Institute of Asian and African studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, senior researcher, Department of Asia and Africa, INION RAS
The paper analyses the correlation between the transformation of Turkey’s domestic politics and changes of its foreign policy according to several parameters – activism over time, change in activism towards different regions, as well as the change in style, tools, and rhetoric. Unstable international environment together with the rapid destabilization of the Middle East has significantly complicated the task of developing a new foreign policy model for Turkey. The paper examines this process in three interconnected dimensions – namely European, American and Eurasian vectors (Turkey’s relations with the EU, the US, and Russia). In relations with the EU, Turkey has de facto formed a new model of interaction and cooperation («differentiated integration»), which on the one hand reflects the scale of Turkey’s integration in the Europeanpolitics, economy, culture and security, on the other hand – displays the fundamental divergences in the approaches towards the European values of democracy and human rights. The relations with the US demonstrate «pendulum fluctuations» determined by a set of divergences on key issues of regional politics. The dynamics of Turkish-American relations over the past two decades is of fundamental importance for the development of Ankara’s new foreign policy model because it reflects the emergence of essentially new balance of priorities and values, in which ideological solidarity with the West (characteristic of the Cold War years) is gradually ousting by Ankara’s current interests and strategic concerns. The «Eurasian vector» of Turkish foreign policy does not represent a response to the dilemma of choosing between the West and the East, but suggests a search for a strategic balance between them for the sake of Turkey’s own interests and ambitions. At the same time the «Eurasian alternative» acts as an important stress-test for Turkey’s relations with Russia, regional powers and key Western allies.
Turkey, EU, US, Russia, Turkish-American relations, Russian- Turkish relations, Europeanisation, Middle East, Eurasia, Turkish Eurasianism.
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