Samenvatting

The Turkish Republic has a great history with major defeats and victories in its past. Since the fourteenth century Turkey was part of the Ottoman Empire. During the following centuries, the Empire expanded and covered areas which are nowadays known as Europe, Asia and North Africa. The twentieth century was a difficult period for the Ottoman Empire. During this century, the Empire lost much of its territory in Europe. In the same century, the Ottoman Empire fell, which caused an independent country to rise in 1923 which is still now know as the Republic of Turkey. The founder of the Republic of Turkey was Mustafa Kemal Pasa, who later became known as Atatürk. Turkey was now an independent and secular state which made many reforms in order to 'Westernize' the state.
Surely, the foreign policy of a state may change due to different factors. During the Ataturk government, the main goal of the foreign policy was to introduce the new Turkish State internationally. After crucial developments and reforms, Turkey established close ties with the West. For instance, close relationships were established with the European Union and the United States. In addition, Turkey became member of the NATO in 1952.
However, since the end of the Cold War, a kind of rethinking has begun in the field of Turkish foreign policy. The change in the political system had a great influence in decision making processes. The end of the military coup in 1980 was an opportunity for Turkey to enhance its relations with the West. In 1983 became Turgut Özal Prime Minister and the relations with the West strengthened. However, the rise of Erbakan in 1996 changed the idea of Turkish foreign policy due to its Islamic orientation. The ideas of Erbakan was to further the relations of Turkey with the Arab nation. The term regionalization started with his administration.
With the rise of AK Party in 2002, the shift of Turkish foreign policy is continued. This shifting behaviour is associated with the name of Ahmet Davutoğlu, which he explains in his book 'Strategic Depth'. The new introduced foreign policy 'zero problems with neighbours' also assumed as the use of soft power has a great role in Turkish foreign policy. For instance, the attempts of Turkey to solve conflicts with Syria ended in hard power. Almost the same situation happened in the case of Israel. Turkey chose to support its Arab neighbours and downgraded its diplomatic ties with Israel. Although, in what extent the policy is successful is questioned by world leaders.
The regionalization of Turkish foreign policy is also applied in the Central Asian region. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union became Turkey a role model in the region. Turkey was secular, modern, democratic and had a free market economy, despite it was a Muslim country. The core values of Turkish foreign policy in Central Asia and Caucasus are to maintain balanced relations with regional countries, create stability and security in the region and last managing transport of energy resources in the region.
So, the shift in Turkish foreign policy from West to East is obvious. There are many factors that have a great influence on the policy. For instance, the creation of new independent states in Central Asia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of the Islamic-oriented party AKP and the prolonged accession to the European Union. Turkey is since 1999 engaged with negotiations and is several times rejected. The negative results of negotiations to the membership of the European Union provoke Turkey to drift away from Europe. However, the changing Turkish foreign policy to the East does not mean that Turkey is turning its back on the West.