Abstract
Central Asia's importance in Turkish foreign policy has begun to rise since the beginning of the 2010s. Turkey determines its regional policy in the conception of the Turkic world, including Azerbaijan. With this regard, Turkey pays particular attention to the institutionalization of bilateral relations with the regional states. The most successful measure in that direction is the establishment of the Turkic Council. This integration project marks significant progress for the institutionalization of Turkey's Central Asian policy. Turkey is one of the non-regional actors affecting the Central Asian balance of power. However, it has limited influence on regional security and military affairs, which Russia dominates. Turkey is only a secondary non-regional actor in Central Asia. Therefore, it primarily structures its Central Asian policy using common historical and cultural elements. In this study, we investigate whether Turkey has a long-term project in Central Asia. For this purpose, we explore the restrictions of Turkish policy in Central Asia. After that, we compare Turkey's importance for the foreign policies of Central Asian states. Additionally, we evaluate Turkey's interest in non-Western organizations such as the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to transform Turkish foreign policy priorities in recent years. Finally, we show that Turkey has a policy toward Central Asia but not a fully-fledged project for the region.
Highlights
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, modern Central Asia has become a significant region that affects regional and international politics
The region has rich energy resources. Their transportation to other countries raises the importance of Central Asia in energy politics
The influence of the countries listed in the second group on the balance of power in political and military-security fields in Central Asia remains limited
Summary
The main research narrative on Turkey's foreign policy in Central Asia has changed quite drastically since the republics' independence. The soft power that Turkey actively used during the first years of the independence of Central Asian republics seemed to be outbalanced by the significant military and economic capabilities of other actors in the region. This trend was captured in the literature. Some scholars highlighted the failure of the strategy of pan-Turkism and the re-orientation of Turkish foreign policy towards more practical goals To some extent, this pragmatism implied that Turkey became a neutral player in the region and prioritized economic relations (Duarte 2013; Zeeshan 2013; Ivanova 2019). It is necessary to put forward Turkey's Central Asian policy limits by evaluating them in the context of political, economic, military, and cultural-educational fields
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