Re-evaluating Turkey’s global relationships and its shift toward the South-East Asian region

Abstract

Turkey is strategically positioned at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and is considered an important geopolitical actor in the global arena. Since Turkey embraced neoliberal economic policies in the 1980s, it has emerged as one of the leading emerging economies with major trade links with the US, Russia, EU, and Asia. Turkey has been a longstanding member of the NATO alliance and signed the European Customs Union Agreement in 1995. With the advent of Asia as the global economic powerhouse, Turkey’s foreign and economic policy horizons today extend to the Asia-Pacific Region. Turkey plays a key role in China’s Belt and Road Initiative and with the launching of the Asia Anew Initiative in late 2019, Ankara has redoubled efforts to forge closer ties with the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and with ASEAN itself. This paper will explore and evaluate Turkey’s foreign policy over the last two decades and the shift from the principle of Strategic Depth to that of Strategic Autonomy. The article will also review Turkey’s current change in international orientation and its international re-orientation toward Asia.