Central Asia's Place in Turkey's Foreign Policy

Abstract

With the independence of the Turkic World after disintegration of USSR in 1991, Turkey found an opportunity to fill the power vacuum in the Central Asian region left by the Soviets. Thus, in the early 1990s, the Turkish foreign policy towards the Central Asian States was hinged on the wishful ideas of Pan-Turkic World. It immediately faced outright resistance from the CARs as they craved to retain their newly found exclusive nationalistic identities. Consequently, later on, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Turkey relinquished their hitherto ambitious foreign policy towards the CAR and reoriented it on more pragmatic lines which allowed her to strengthen its bilateral relations with the CARs. Meanwhile, in light of the geopolitical developments in Ukraine and dramatic slowdown of the Russian economy, Turkey's balancing act in Central Asia was seen as beneficial by Moscow, which could find another partner in helping to stem some of China's swelling influence in the region. Moreover, after the failed military coup attempt in Turkey (July 2016), Russian and Turkish leadership have showed friendly overtures to each other which can strengthen their relations and both these players can play constructive role towards the development of Central Asia region.