Turkey’s Foreign Policy: Shifting Back to the West after a Drift to the East?

In this brief, the author discusses how the AKP’s rise to power in Turkey brought about a significant shift in foreign policy, but this shift has most likely been wrongly appraised. Now, as Ankara wrestles with the Syrian crisis, sets greater store by its NATO membership and finds itself generally aligned with its Western allies, the question of whether Turkey has not returned to the Western fold is being assessed.

However, time and the 'Arab Spring' have not blotted out the fundamental changes in Turkish foreign policy; they have merely demonstrated that these changes were not what they were initially taken for.

The Turkey Policy Brief Series, published jointly by IPLI and the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV), offers analytical coverage of Turkey's domestic and international affairs. Its analysis focuses on the study and debate of Turkey's current and evolving geopolitical context.

• Primary Source

IPLI: Turkey Policy Brief Series http://www.scribd.com/collections/3462146/IPLI-TEPAV-Turkey-Policy-Brief-Series-2012-English

ESO: Background information: Foreign relations: Policy struggles to keep up with rush of events http://www.europeansources.info/record/foreign-relations-policy-struggles-to-keep-up-with-rush-of-events/

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